mm-Wave Power Amplifiers in FINFET Technology

Fifth generation cellular communications standards (5G) target Gb/s data-rates, pushing the industry to use frequencies above 26GHz. To maintain acceptable link budgets with sufficient antenna apertures, arrays are typically required at these frequencies and electrical beam steering is needed to retain spatial coverage. CMOS FINFETs represent an ideal technology match, given the high level of integration required; however, power amplifier design is challenging in this technology. Fortunately, due to the array gain and distributed power among many power amplifiers, the power output required per PA is moderate. This talk will focus on how to design such power amplifiers in FINFET technologies suitable for high levels of integration on a multi-transceiver die.