An E-Band, High-Gain Current Clamping Power Amplifier for eWLB-Integration

This work presents a 2-stage, class AB Power Amplifier (PA) in Infineon's 130nm b11hfc technology, prepared for the integration in an eWLB package. It employs a cascode stage and a transformer to feed an output stage in a double common base configuration based on the current clamping principle. The PA operates within 22GHz of 3-dB bandwidth (62.2GHz-84.2GHz) in the E-band, outputting a maximum power of 15dBm at the automotive frequency of 76GHz. With its current draw of 47.5mA from a 3.3V supply for a total power consumption of 156.75mW in saturation, a PAE of 19.5% was calculated. Regarding linearity, an OP1dB of 13.6dBm at an IP1dB of -15.8dBm was achieved. This early saturation is accompanied by 33dB of small signal gain, leading to a high versatility for e.g. the automotive industry. The core size of the chip is only 440μm x 400μm (0.176mm2), and 930μm x 930μm (0.87mm2) including the pad frame, the input/output baluns and thermal contacts.