This article presents high-efficiency power amplifiers (PAs) implemented in Texas Instruments’ (TI) 130-nm BiCMOS process for VV - and EE -band millimeter-wave (mmWave) radar sensors. A new Class-E output network based on a doubly tuned (DT) transformer is proposed to enable high-efficiency mmWave operation. The proposed Class-E network allows increasing PA device size beyond the traditional Class-E design limits while preserving nonoverlapping Class-E current and voltage waveforms. Design examples for single-ended and differential implementation of the proposed Class-E network are presented in this article. Three PA prototypes (a 79-GHz two-stage PA, a 63-GHz single-stage PA, and a 79-GHz single-stage PA) have been designed and fabricated in a high-volume production 130-nm BiCMOS process. A Class-E interstage network with a split-and-combine 45° transformer is employed in the two-stage PA to ease driving the last stage PA devices. Device layout optimization for improved efficiency is described in this article. The measurement results achieve a peak power-added efficiency (PAE) of 30.5%/34.7%/32.6% with an output power of 17/18.1/17 dBm for the 79-GHz two-stage, 63-GHz single-stage, and 79-GHz single-stage PAs, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, these are the record PAE numbers reported for VV - and EE -band PAs in any silicon process, demonstrating the efficacy of the proposed DT transformer-based Class-E output network.

中文翻译：

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适用于毫米波雷达传感器的高效 E 类功率放大器：设计与实现


本文介绍了采用德州仪器 (TI) 130 nm BiCMOS 工艺实现的用于 VV 和 EE 频段毫米波 (mmWave) 雷达传感器的高效功率放大器 (PA)。提出了一种基于双调谐 (DT) 变压器的新型 E 类输出网络，以实现高效毫米波运行。所提出的 E 类网络允许将 PA 器件尺寸增加到超出传统 E 类设计限制，同时保留不重叠的 E 类电流和电压波形。本文介绍了所提出的 E 类网络的单端和差分实现的设计示例。三个 PA 原型（79 GHz 两级 PA、63 GHz 单级 PA 和 79 GHz 单级 PA）已采用大批量生产 130 nm BiCMOS 工艺设计和制造。两级 PA 中采用了带有分体组合 45° 变压器的 E 级级间网络，以方便驱动最后一级 PA 设备。本文介绍了用于提高效率的设备布局优化。测量结果显示，79GHz 两级、63GHz 单级的峰值功率附加效率 (PAE) 分别为 30.5%/34.7%/32.6%，输出功率为 17/18.1/17 dBm。分别为 79 GHz 单级 PA。据我们所知，这些是任何硅工艺中 VV 和 EE 频段 PA 的记录 PAE 数，证明了所提出的基于 DT 变压器的 E 类输出网络的功效。