A 15GHz Bandwidth High Efficiency Power Distributed Amplifier for Ultra-Wideband-Applications Using a Low-Cost SiGe BiCMOS Technology

Author

Sewiolo, Benjamin ; Fischer, Georg ; Weigel, Robert

Author_Institution

Inst. for Electron. Eng., Univ. of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen

fYear

2009

fDate

19-21 Jan. 2009

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

In this paper the analysis, design and characterization of a 15 GHz power distributed amplifier for ultra-wideband radar and sensing applications are presented. The amplifier is fabricated in a low-cost 0.25 mum SiGe BiCMOS technology with a transit frequency f_t of 25 GHz. The circuit integrates four common-emitter gain cells, which are capacitively coupled to the base line for power optimization. Collector line tapering has been used for efficiency improvement. 13.5 dBm output power has been measured at the 1 dB compression point (P_1dB) in the desired frequency range with an associated gain of 9.5 dB and a gain flatness of plusmn0.5 dB with total power consumption of 140 mW. The peak power added efficiency (PAE) at P_1dB is 13.8%. The chip size of the compact amplifier is 1.45 mm². Good agreement between simulation and measurement was achieved.

Keywords

BiCMOS integrated circuits; Ge-Si alloys; distributed amplifiers; power amplifiers; circuit integrates four common-emitter gain cells; compact amplifier; frequency 15 GHz; gain flatness; high efficiency power distributed amplifier; low-cost SiGe BiCMOS technology; output power; total power consumption; transit frequency; ultra-wideband radar; Bandwidth; BiCMOS integrated circuits; Coupling circuits; Distributed amplifiers; Frequency; Gain; Germanium silicon alloys; Radar applications; Silicon germanium; Ultra wideband technology;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Silicon Monolithic Integrated Circuits in RF Systems, 2009. SiRF '09. IEEE Topical Meeting on

Conference_Location

San Diego, CA

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-3940-9

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-2831-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/SMIC.2009.4770545

Filename

4770545