A 39GHz T/R front-end module achieving 25.6% PAEmax, 20dBm Psat, 5.7dB NF, and −13dBm IIP3 in 22nm FD-SOI for 5G communications

This paper presents a 39 GHz front-end module (FEM) in 22 nm FD-SOI technology for 5G communications. The PA output stage uses a 2-stacked FET topology to achieve high output power. A two-way current combiner is used to combine output power from the output stage while maintaining a uniform waveform distribution over each transistor unit cell to enhance the device reliability. The LNA consists of two stages to obtain high power gain with low power consumption. Derivative-superposition (DS) with a common-mode inductor is used to improve the LNA linearity. The measured P sat and PAE max in TX mode are 20.4 dBm and 25.6%, respectively. The measured NF and IIP3 in RX mode are 5.7 dB and −13 dBm, respectively. A Pout, avg of 13.5 dBm and a PAE avg of 10.6% is achieved in 64-QAM 400 MSym/s single-carrier at EVM rms of −25 dB for TX-mode.