A 76–81 GHz high efficiency power amplifier for phased array automotive radar applications

This paper describes the implementation of 76–81 GHz power amplifier (PA) in 65 nm CMOS technology. A customized transistor model enables the designing circuits operating at mm-wave band. The output matching of the PA was composed of low-pass network to reduce both footprint and matching loss. This makes the PA ideal for phased array radars. The measured results at 79 GHz achieved the small signal gain of 25.1 dB, the saturated output power (Psat) of 11.5 dBm, and the power added efficiency (PAE) of 13.6% at the supply voltage of 0.8 V. These results agreed with the simulation.