A 60-GHz Outphasing Transmitter in 40-nm CMOS

• Published in: IEEE journal of solid-state circuits Vol. 47; no. 12; pp. 3172 - 3183
• Main Authors: Dixian Zhao, Kulkarni, S., Reynaert, P.
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01-12-2012; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Subjects: 60 GHz; Amplifiers; Applied sciences; Bandwidth; Baseband; Circuit properties; Circuits of signal characteristics conditioning (including delay circuits); CMOS; CMOS integrated circuits; Design. Technologies. Operation analysis. Testing; efficiency; Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits; Electronic circuits; Electronic equipment and fabrication. Passive components, printed wiring boards, connectics; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Integrated circuits; linearization; millimeter-wave; mixer; Mixers; outphasing transmitter; Peak to average power ratio; poly-phase filter; power amplifier; power combiner; Power generation; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; transformer; Transmitters; Performance evaluation; Electric transformer; Quadrature amplitude modulation; Output power; Microwave; Microwave transmitter; transformer; poly-phase filter; Power supply; 60 GHz; millimeter-wave; Implementation; Optimization; Millimetric wave; CMOS; Power combiners; Complementary MOS technology; Peak power; Linearization; efficiency; outphasing transmitter; power combiner; Mixers (circuits); Power electronics; Mismatching; Combiner circuit; High power; mixer; Phase filter; Power amplifier
• ISSN: 0018-9200; 1558-173X
• DOI: 10.1109/JSSC.2012.2216692

This paper presents the analysis, design, and implementation of a 60-GHz outphasing transmitter in 40-nm bulk CMOS. The 60-GHz outphasing transmitter is optimized for high output power and peak power-added efficiency (PAE) while maintaining sufficient linearity. The chip occupies an active area of 0.33 mm 2 and consumes 217 mW from a 1-V supply voltage, delivering 15.6-dBm linear output power with 25% PAE (PA). It achieves a 500-Mb/s 16QAM modulation with 12.5-dBm average output power and 15% average efficiency (PA) at an EVM of -22 dB. Mismatch compensation and phase correction are applied to further improve the average output power and efficiency by about 1.6 dB and 4%, respectively.