A 250-GHz 12.6-dB Gain and 3.8-dBm <i>P</i> <sub>sat</sub> Power Amplifier in 65-nm CMOS Adopting Dual-Shunt Elements Based <i>G</i> <sub>max</sub>-Core
Byeonghun Yun, Dae‐Woong Park, Won-Jong Choi, Hafiz Usman Mahmood, Sang‐Gug Lee
Abstract
This letter proposes a high output power 250-GHz power amplifier adopting dual-shunt elements in the implementation of maximum achievable gain (G <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">max</sub> ) core. By the adoption of the dual-shunt-element-based G <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">max</sub> -core, the output transistor size can be increased, which leads to higher output power. Implemented in a 65-nm CMOS, the measurement results show a peak gain of 12.6 dB, P <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">sat</sub> of 3/3.8 dBm, OP1 dB of 1.4/2.3 dBm, and peak power-added efficiency (PAE) of 4.8/3.2% at 248.6 GHz while dissipating 40/62.4 mW from a 1/1.2-V supply, respectively.