Design and Implementation of a D-Band Bidirectional Common-Gate Amplifier in 45-nm RFSOI

Abstract

This article presents a new design methodology for a D-band bidirectional amplifier that leverages the inherent symmetry of CMOS transistors in a common-gate amplifier. The proposed design exploits symmetric passive networks that achieve interstage conjugate matching conditions in forward and reverse amplifications while minimizing the switching loss in support of bidirectional amplification. A current-reuse technique is proposed to reduce power consumption by sharing the supply current between the adjacent amplifier stages. Two prototype D-band bidirectional amplifiers have been implemented using a 45-nm RFSOI process: transformer and transmission line-based amplifiers. The 103–123-GHz transformer-based amplifier reports measured peak gains of 9 and 7.5 dB in forward and reverse amplifications with a 3-dB bandwidth of 20 GHz, an average noise figure (NF) of 6.3 dB, and a DC power consumption of 25.5 mW. The 124–145-GHz transmission line-based amplifier reports a measured peak gain of 14 dB, a 3-dB bandwidth of 21 GHz, and an average NF of 7 dB with a DC power consumption of 28.5 mW.