A 24–29.5-GHz CMOS Front-End Module With 33.6% TX Peak Efficiency and 5.8-mW RX Power Consumption

This paper presents a 24–29.5 GHz front-end module (FEM) integrating a differential high-efficiency power amplifier (PA), a single-ended low-power low-noise amplifier (LNA), and a matching network-embedded (MNE) antenna switch that supports fifth-generation (5G) frequency range 2 (FR2) bands (n257/n258/n261). The highly linear class-AB PA is designed to mitigate AM–PM distortion without degrading output power. A single-ended half-supply-voltage configuration is adopted to reduce LNA power consumption without sacrificing linearity. In addition, an MNE antenna switch configuration for the differential PA and single-ended LNA is proposed to reduce insertion loss in both modes and die area. Fabricated in 65-nm bulk CMOS, the presented FEM achieves an 18.1–20 dBm output 1-dB compression point (OP1-dB) and 24.4–33.6% peak power-added efficiency (PAE) in transmitter (TX) mode, and a 4.8–5.6 dB noise figure (NF) while consuming 5.8 mW in receiver (RX) mode, including the impact of the antenna switch.