An ultra-wideband CMOS PA with dummy filling for reliability

A V-band power amplifier in a bulk 65 nm CMOS technology with a peak gain 14.5 dB and 3-dB bandwidth of 28.8 GHz (50.8-79.6 GHz) is presented. The techniques to boost bandwidth and power efficiency are presented. In addition, the design of dummy filling to satisfy manufacturing density requirements while having negligible effects on performances is discussed in details. The PA features a three stage transformer coupled differential architecture with integrated input and output baluns on-chip. The PA achieves a measured saturated output power of 15.1 dBm and output 1 dB compression power of 12.9 dBm at 65 GHz. The peak power-added efficiency is 18.9%. The entire PA occupies area of 0.31 mm2, while consuming 150 mW from a 1.25 V supply.