A 27GHz, 31dBm power amplifier in a 0.25um SiGe:C BICMOS technology

This paper describes an 8-way in-phase current combining power amplifier (PA) for Ka-band applications implemented in a 0.25um SiGe:C BiCMOS technology. The PA achieves a saturated output power of 29.7dBm at 27GHz with a maximum PAE of 10.5%. After applying load-pull, this output power increases further to a level of 31dBm with a maximum PAE of 13%. The small-signal gain is 24.5dB and the saturated gain is more than 14.7dB in the band of interest. The consumed area is only 2.83mm2