3-5 GHz CMOS Power Amplifier in 130nm CMOS for UWB Applications

A broadband CMOS power amplifier (PA) working in frequency range starting at 3 GHz to 5 GHz in 130 nm CMOS process for ultra-wideband (UWB) implementations is accomplished in this paper. A cascode scheme (common source transistor followed by common gate transistor) is employed in the design of the achieved power amplifier. To boost the power gain, two stages cascode amplifier with a common source (CS) scheme as the third stage are used covering the operating band. This PA attains a power gain of about 18.86 dB and reaches an excellent flatness of about ±0.3. The output P1dB is about −3 dBm. A broad range of impedance matching at input and output is accomplished. The input return loss (S11), the output return loss (S22), and the reverse isolation (S12) equal about <-5 dB, <−3 dB, and <-100 dB, respectively.