A 19.1dBm segmented power-mixer based multi-Gbps mm-Wave transmitter in 32nm SOI CMOS

Abstract

A high-power, fully-integrated, mm-wave power mixer based transmitter capable of generating highspeed, complex non-constant envelope modulations is implemented in a 32nm SOI CMOS process. Segmented power generation approach is shown to be suitable for direct digital modulation as well as efficiency improvement at back-off power levels. The transmitter has a peak output power of 19.1dBm at 51GHz with a drain efficiency of 14.2% and a peak PAE of 10.1%. Measurements results show high-speed modulations for BPSK, QPSK, ASK, m-ASK and 16-QAM. Reliability of the transmitter has also been verified against worst case segmentation at 30% higher supply voltage.

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