A High-Isolation 26.5–36.2-GHz T/R Duplexer Module on 0.18-μm BiCMOS for 5G Systems

A high-isolation fully integrated 26.5-36.2-GHz frequency-division duplex (FDD) transmit-receive (T/R) duplexer (DUX) front-end module, containing DUX, power amplifier (PA), and low-noise amplifier (LNA), for fifth-generation (5G) wireless systems is demonstrated on a single 0.18-μm BiCMOS Si chip. The isolation between the PA output and LNA input is generally better than 40 dB from 15 to 60 GHz. The DUX module has a 20.8-dB gain with a 13.5-dB minimum noise figure at 28 GHz for the entire receive path. It provides about 12-dB gain with better than an 11-dBm maximum output power across 23.5-36.2 GHz for the transmit path. Leakage of the transmit signal through Si substrate is considered and suppressed using PA with deep-n-well structure and p-type/n-type grounding guard rings. The entire module only occupies an active area of 2.1 mm
²
.