Two-Path 77-GHz PA in 28-nm FD-SOI CMOS for Automotive Radar Applications

This paper presents a 77 GHz two path power amplifier (PA) for automotive radar applications. It was fabricated in 28-nm fully depleted silicon-on-insulator CMOS technology, which provides transistors with a transition frequency of about 270 GHz and a general-purpose low cost back-end-of-line. The proposed PA consists of a 50 Omega input buffer followed by two power units, which are made up of a current-reuse common source driver for improved efficiency and a stacked cascode power stage for enhanced output power. A peak detector was also embedded into the PA for output power monitoring. The designed PA achieved a saturated output power as high as 17.4 dBm at 77 GHz with an excellent power added efficiency of 19%, while drawing 150 mA from a 2 V power supply. The core die size was 500 mu m x 300 mu m.

Automated summary

This paper presents a 77 GHz two path power amplifier (PA) for automotive radar applications. The proposed PA, fabricated in advanced CMOS technology, demonstrates high output power and power added efficiency. It is suitable for automotive radar systems, providing accurate power amplification and output power monitoring.