A Reconfigurable Non-Uniform Power-Combining V-Band PA With +17.9 dBm P sat and 26.5% PAE in 16-nm FinFET CMOS

This article presents the design of a dual-mode V-band power amplifier (PA) that enhances the efficiency at power back-off (PBO) using load modulation. The PA utilizes a reconfigurable two-/four-way power combiner to enable two discrete modes of operation–full power and back-off power. The power combiner employs two techniques to further improve the PA efficiency at PBO: 1) usage of transformers w...