A 65 nm CMOS 30 dBm Class-E RF Power Amplifier With 60% PAE and 40% PAE at 16 dB Back-Off

A 30 dBm single-ended class-E RF power amplifier (PA) is fabricated in a baseline 65 nm CMOS technology. The PA is constructed as a cascode stage formed by a standard thin-oxide device and a dedicated novel high voltage extended-drain thick-oxide device. Both devices are implemented without using additional masks or processing steps. The proposed PA uses an innovative self-biasing technique to ensure high power-added efficiency (PAE) at both high output power (Pout) and power back-off levels. At 2 GHz, the PA achieves a PAE of 60% at a Pout of 30 dBm and a PAE of 40% at 16 dB back-off. Stress tests indicate the reliability of both the novel high voltage device and the design.