A 28 GHz front-end module with T/R switch achieving 17.2 dBm Psat, 21.5% PAEmax and 3.2 dB NF in 22 nm FD-SOI for 5G communication

A 28 GHz front-end module (FEM) for 5G communication is implemented in 22 nm FD-SOI technology. Competitive performance for both TX and RX modes is achieved simultaneously with robustness in TX mode and ESD protection. The key for these features is the transmit/receive (T/R) switch incorporating PA circuitry, offering high linearity and robustness in TX mode, low NF in RX mode, and ESD-protection capability. The PA output stage uses a 3-stacked-FET topology to achieve high output power. Several matching techniques are implemented to equally distribute the large output voltage swing among the three stacked FETs. P
sat
and PAE
max
in TX mode are 17.2 dBm and 21.5%, respectively. NF and IIP
3
in RX mode are 3.2 dB and -5.4 dBm, respectively. With a 100 MHz bandwidth 256-QAM single-carrier signal the FEM achieves an EVM of -30 dB with average output power of 10.1 dBm and average PAE of 8.3 %. The reliability of the FEM in TX mode is assessed, demonstrating the robustness of the FEM. The ESD measurement of the FEM shows 2 kV human-body-model (HBM) ESD protection.