26.2 A Doherty-Like Load-Modulated Balanced Power Amplifier Achieving 15.5dBm Average Pout and 20% Average PAE at a Data Rate of 18Gb/s in 28nm CMOS

The continuous growth in demand for high-speed wireless connectivity is one of the main driving forces in the standardization and development of mm-wave systems. 5G new radio (NR) and also satellite communication with recent low-earth-orbit satellite launches are seeing tremendous interest from the industry. More specifically the FR2 band (24.25 to 52.6GHz) is of a particular interest for both applications. To overcome the high path loss at mm-waves, phased-array systems are used to achieve a certain effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP). The use of numerous radiating elements favours compact structures. The necessity for high-speed mixed-signal and digital circuits in multi-Gb/s communication, entails the use of deep-scaled silicon technologies, enabling low cost, compact, and high-yield CMOS front-end solutions.