Browsing by Author "Morrison, James Allen"

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    A 120-GHz Power Amplifier in 45-nm SiGe
    (2022-12-02) Morrison, James Allen; Chi, Taiyun
    As 5G cellular technologies are in the deployment stage and 6G technology is entering the research arena, the need for more bandwidth allocation has led to the drastic increase in frequency that has crossed the threshold into the sub-terahertz (sub-THz) region. This spectrum allows for larger bandwidths, but also brings challenges for implementation due to the physical phenomenon associated with these EM (electromagnetic) waves. One challenge is to efficiently provide high output power for antennas on a single chip or as part of a larger IC (Integrated Circuit) [1]. This work evaluates a promising new SiGe (Silicon-Germanium) fabrication process that addresses the power generation issue by utilizing an HBT (hetero-junction bipolar transistor) that is half the size of the previous generation, but still has an appreciable supply voltage and offers the use of topologies that allow the voltage swing to remain high despite its smaller size. The main contributions of this paper are as follows: (a) The design flow used to evaluate this new process, (b) A chip design that evaluates the performance of the HBT in a 2-stage common-base differential amplifier configuration.