A stacked transistor approach to millimeter wave SiGe power amplifiers.

This paper describes a design approach for stack connected transistor amplifiers used in the realization of two highly compact SiGe:C BiCMOS amplifiers. The first, realized in a 250 nm process, is designed to operate at Ka band and occupies an area of 0.24 mm2. It is capable of delivering a saturated output power of 16.8 dBm with an output 1 dB compression point of up to 15 dBm. It achieves a small signal gain higher than 15 dB and has a measured power added efficiency of 15%. The second is realized in a 130 nm process and operates at W band. Occupying an area of only 0.02 mm2, it has a small signal gain of 14 dB with a 33 GHz 3 dB bandwidth centered around 89 GHz. It consumes 104 mW from a 5 V supply and delivers a saturated output power of 9 dBm between 92 and 102 GHz in simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]