DC Temperature Measurements to Characterize the Central Frequency and 3 dB Bandwidth in mmW Power Amplifiers

This letter shows how a temperature sensor and a simple dc voltage multimeter can be used as instruments to determine the central frequency and 3 dB bandwidth of a 60 GHz linear power amplifier (PA). Compared to previous works, the dc temperature monitoring now proposed requires a much simpler and convenient measurement set-up. In this example, the temperature sensor is embedded in the same silicon die as the PA. Being placed in empty layout spaces next to it, it is proposed as a built-in test circuit.