A 77-GHz PA with ground-plane parasitic cancellation in a SiGe HBT BiCMOS technology.

This letter presents a 77-GHz power amplifier implemented in a SiGe BiCMOS technology featuring bipolar transistors with 160/175-GHz f/ f. The circuit adopts a two stage differential topology with integrated input/output matching networks. The amplifier performance is considerably improved thanks to proper input/output LC resonant networks, which cancel out the ground-plane parasitic effect. Matching networks use stacked transformers for impedance matching, differential-to-single-ended conversion, and electro-static discharge protection. The circuit achieves a power gain of 18.5 dB, a maximum output power of 11.6 dBm, with 4.2% power-added efficiency, and an output 1-dB compression point of 9.3 dBm. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 53:1413-1416, 2011; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.25972 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]