A Broadband 4.5–15.5-GHz SiGe Power Amplifier With 25.5-dBm Peak Saturated Output Power and 28.7% Maximum PAE

International audienceThis paper presents the design of a broadband power amplifier (PA) in 130 nm SiGe BiCMOS technology. First, a single stage broadband single cell PA covering the 4.5-18 GHz frequency band is introduced. In this frequency range, this single cell achieves a measured gain, saturated output power (Psat), output 1 dB compression point (P1dB) and power added efficiency (PAE) in the range of 12.8 to 15.7 dB, 18.8 to 23.7 dBm, 16.7 to 19.5 dBm and 11.4 to 31.9%, respectively. Its peak saturated output power and maximum PAE are both obtained at 8.5 GHz. Second, to increase the output power, a PA consisting of two parallel broadband cells with power combination is presented. This PA operates in the 4.5-15.5 GHz frequency range with measured gain, Psat, P1dB and PAE in the range of 11 to 16.6 dB, 21.3 to 25.5 dBm, 18.7 to 21.7 dBm and 11.9 to 28.7%, respectively. It achieves its peak saturated output power of 25.5 dBm at 8.5 GHz and its maximum PAE of 28.7% with an associated output power of 23.6 dBm at 6.5 GHz. Each of those two PA achieves better performances than the state of the art in broadband SiGe technology, when comparing the output power level and efficiency