A 65nm CMOS 60 GHz class F-E power amplifier for WPAN applications

Abstract

This work presents a two-stage 60 GHz Power Amplifier designed in a 65nm CMOS technology dedicated to low cost Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) applications. In order to provide a high efficiency operation, the PA is based on a Class E power stage. A Class F driver stage is also designed to provide a square waveform signal to the Class-E power stage. To realize the output networks of both driver and power stage at 60 GHz, distributed elements are used instead of lumped elements. The post-layout simulation results show a saturated output power of 15 dBm with a peak PAE of 26% at 60 GHz. It achieves a gain of 15dB at 60 GHz.