High-Power, mm-Wave Power Amps in Submicron CMOS

Prototypes of two high-efficiency mm-Wave 5G power amplifiers (in 28-nm planar and 16-nm FinFET bulk CMOS processes) showed performance comparable to SOI CMOS. A single-stage, two-stack FinFET PA generated a Psat of 18.3 dBm from a 1.8-V supply at 39 GHz with 35.5% drain efficiency. A three-stage 28-nm PA achieved a Psat of 26 dBm using a 2.2-V supply, PAE of 26.6%. Aging-acceleration tests demonstrated the robustness of both prototypes.
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Coming Up: More Rescheduled Meetings

The pandemic is prompting widespread schedule changes (see IMS, above). Check both the MTT-S meeting calendar and individual conference web sites carefully. Some notable changes include: Microwave Acoustics & Mechanics (IC-MAM202x) to July 2021; Wireless and Microwave Technology Conference (WAMICON), to 1-3 December; European Microwave Week 2020 to 10-15 Jan., 2021; Microwave Filter Workshop (IMFW202) to autumn 2021.
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Stacked-SOI Power Amp with > 4.5-THz Gain Bandwidth

A new cascaded distributed power amplifier (DPA) topology showed gain band width greater than 4.5 THz, using stacking with multi-drive inter-stack coupling to compensate for the stacked gain cells and input transmission-line losses. A 45nm RFSOI GlobalFoundries prototype achieved the highest reported GBW, continuous-wave (CW) PSAT, and average POUT for 64-QAM 30-Gb/s modulated signal reported to date, outperforming published silicon-based DPAs with comparable power levels.
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Four-Element Wide Modulated Bandwidth MIMO Receiver

A new discrete-time-delay-compensation technique helps cancel spatial interference with wide modulated bandwidths, reducing data-converter dynamic range requirements. A switched-capacitor-based multiply-and-accumulate processor enables 5-ps resolution with a reconfigurable range up to 15 ns. The measured results demonstrate greater than 35-dB spatial interference cancellation over 80-MHz modulated band widths with 52 mW of power consumption.
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Chip-First Packaging With Multimaterial Jet Printing

Two microwave packages with integrated active and passive components were constructed using a chip-first approach, printing dielectrics and conductor interconnects around a power amplifier. The packages demonstrated maximum gain and saturated output power almost identical with the commercial-off-the-shelf medium power amplifier around which they were built.
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'Innovation at Work' Online Education Opportunities

Once again, IEEE Innovation at Work offers members multiple opportunities to expand their knowledge. Explore this week’s selection of courses on sale for US$10 each. Drop in on IEEE Tech Talk’s interactive Virtual Panel Series (or catch up after they’ve aired). Or explore the wide range of courses in the IEEE eLearning Library.
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Extended-Range BLE5.0/IEEE802.15.4 TxRx SoC

New system-on-a-chip supports extended-range Bluetooth low energy (BLE) 5.0 and IEEE 802.15.4 communication, and integrates dc-dc converter, LDOs, digitally controlled crystal oscillator, PHY, a microcontroller, security engine, SRAM, and eFlash memory. A 28-nm CMOS prototype demonstrated sensitivities of -98 dBm in 2-Mb/s BLE and -102 dBm in 256-kb/s IEEE 802.15.4.
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2-5.5 GHz Beamsteering IC with Vivaldi Antenna

A four-element Vivaldi antenna array and beamsteering receiver IC uses a delay-based local-oscillator phase shift technique for accurate beamsteering. The device exhibits 1° to 2.4° phase-tuning capability for 2-5 GHz bandwidth. The IC fabricated in 28-nm CMOS has a 1.4 x 1.4 mm² footprint and 22.8 mW at 2 GHz for single-receiver path operation.
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RF-Harvesting Printed Rectenna Array T-Shirt

Broadband rectenna arrays (tightly coupled bow-ties screen-printed on a cotton T-shirt) successfully harvested power with up to 32% efficiency at power densities of 4-130-μW/cm² between 2 and 5 GHz. A packaged SMS7630-079LF Schottky diode, connected to each element of the array, measured diode impedance over frequency as a function of dc load and input power. And it's washable.
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Technologies and Techniques for mm-Wave Power Amps

A review of state-of-the-art mm-Wave power amplifiers focuses on broadband design techniques and the main solid-state technologies (including Si, gallium arsenide, GaN, and other III-V materials, and both field-effect and bipolar transistors). The principal broadband design techniques are critically compared, offering a guide for designers undertaking the mm-Wave power-amp challenge.
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