Integrated 2-b Riemann Pump RF-DAC in GaN Technology for 5G Base Stations

A monolithically-integrated 2-b Riemann Pump (RP) is designed to demonstrate several voltage-waveforms in the time-domain at RF-frequency, as it introduces the possibility to synthesize arbitrary RF-voltage-waveforms controlled by a digital bit stream. Here, the RP can be operated with a sampling rate of 24 GSa/s that enables data rates of up to 16 Gbit/s suitable for 5G communication at fundamental frequencies up to 2 GHz. The presented Riemann Pump exhibits a maximum single-ended voltage swing of 14.3V, which is suitable to drive a co-integrated broadband power amplifier. To the authors’ best knowledge, this paper presents the first experimental verification of radio frequency (RF) signals with several volts of voltage swing, generated by an integrated 2-b Riemann Pump in gallium nitride (GaN) technology.