An E-Band Power Amplifier Using High Power RF Device with Hybrid Work Function and Oxide Thickness in 22nm Low-Power FinFET

This paper presents an E-band power amplifier (PA) designed using a novel high power FinFET device (HyPowerFF) with dual work function materials and oxide thicknesses under a common gate in Intel 22nm FinFET low-power (22FFL) technology. The new device achieves high breakdown voltage and high RF performance simultaneously, which is ideal for RF and millimeter-wave power amplifiers. The single-stage PA achieves a peak S21 of 12.8dB at 82GHz with a 3-dB bandwidth of 27GHz. With a conservative 2.1V supply voltage for reliability, the measured Psat, OP1dB, peak PAE, and PAE at OP1dB are 14.6dBm, 12.1dBm, 18.6%, and 13.6% at 73GHz. Taking advantage of the high power density of HyPowerFF, the core area of the PA is only 0.012 mm², enabling compact integration into massive phased array systems.