# Broadband Millimeter-Wave Front-End Module Design Considerations in FD-SOI CMOS vs. GaN HEMTs
## 3 Simulation and Measurement Results
### Comparison of PAs Designed in Our Lab with FEMs in the Literature  
A summary plot of the \(P_{OUT,SAT}\) and PAE data taken on the PAs designed in our lab is shown in Figure 7, with the GaN PAs showing similar PAE to the Si PA, but with much higher \(P_{OUT,SAT}\). The medium-power GaN PA shows a \(P_{OUT,SAT}\) \(\sim\)10 dB greater than the Si CMOS PA, and the Watt-level GaN PA reaches a \(P_{OUT,SAT}\)\(\sim\)16 dB higher than the Si PA. The data taken on our PAs and on the PAs in the literature [17; 18; 19; 20; 21; 22; 23] are shown in Table 1, which suggests that our work achieved the highest FoM (figure-of-merit) as defined considering BW, output power, PAE, gain, and die size [44]. In Figure 8a, the \(OP_{1 dB}\) of our PAs are compared to each other, and the minimum \(P_{OUT,SAT}\) of the PAs within their BWs are compared to the FEMs in the literature in Figure 8b and Table 2 [24; 25; 26; 27; 28; 29; 30; 31; 32; 33; 34; 35; 36]. Since our PAs are very broadband and use smaller technology nodes compared to the FEMs in Table 2, our \(P_{OUT}\) may not reach as high as we would like, but their BWs are among the widest in the literature. Figure 8: This figure shows (**a**) \(OP_{1 dB}\) for the PAs designed in our lab and (**b**) the min. \(P_{OUT,SAT}\) of Tx FEMs using our PAs with a flat 1.5 dB estimated RF switch loss, plotted along with Si and GaN FEMs in the literature [25; 26; 28; 33; 34; 35; 36]. Figure 7: Summary plots showing (**a**) \(P_{OUT,SAT}\) and (**b**) PAE taken from CW large-signal measurements on the CMOS PA and the medium-power GaN PA are shown with PEX EM simulations taken on the Watt-level GaN PA.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Ref. ** & **Tech. ** & **Design** & \begin{tabular}{c} **Supply** \\ **(V)** \\ \end{tabular}  & \begin{tabular}{c} **3 dB BW** \\ **(GHz)** \\ \end{tabular}  & \begin{tabular}{c} **Freq.** \\ **(GHz)** \\ \end{tabular}  & \begin{tabular}{c} **Max.** \\ **(GHz)** \\ \end{tabular}  & \begin{tabular}{c} **\(P_{OUT,SAT}\)** \\ **(dB)** \\ \end{tabular}  & \begin{tabular}{c} **\(OP_{1 dB}\)** \\ **(dBm)** \\ \end{tabular}  & \
\begin{tabular}{c} **\( \begin{tabular}{c} **Peak** \\ **PAE** \\ **(\%)** \\ \end{tabular}  \\ \hline
2021 & 65 nm & \ \begin{tabular}{c} Cascade \\ w/adaptive \\ bias and \\ dynamic \\ feedback \\ \end{tabular}  & 2 & \begin{tabular}{c} 24.25-27.5 \\ (12.6\%) \\ \end{tabular}  & 24.25 & 15.3 & N/A & 18.7 & 37.2 & 0.19 & 28 \\ \hline
2019 & 65 nm & \ \begin{tabular}{c} Multi-port \\ load-pulling \\ fixed-bias \\ \end{tabular}  & 1.1 & \begin{tabular}{c} 26-42 \\ (47.1\%) \\ \end{tabular}  & 37 & 16 & 19.6 & 16 & 21.9 & 1.35 & 11.8 \\ \hline
2019 & 130 nm & \ \begin{tabular}{c} Two-stage \\ SloGe \\ fixed-bias \\ \end{tabular}  & 1.5 & \begin{tabular}{c} 23.3-39.7 \\ (52.1\%) \\ \end{tabular}  & 28 & 18.7 & 16.8 & 15.2 & 20.3 & 1.76 & 6.2 \\ \hline
2017 & 130 nm & \begin{tabular}{c} Two-stage \\ SloGe \\ fixed-bias \\ \end{tabular}  & 1.8 & \ \begin{tabular}{c} 24.4 \\ (51.1\%) \\ \end{tabular}  & 2 & \begin{tabular}{c} 28 \\ (52.1\%) \\ \end{tabular}  & 11.4 & 18.6 & 16.6 & 45.7 & 10.7 & 137.8 \\ \hline
2019 & 45 nm & \ \begin{tabular}{c} Continuous \\ Hybrid Class \\ F/F\({}^{-1}\); \\ fixed-bias \\ \end{tabular}  & 2 & \begin{tabular}{c} 25.9-43.7 \\ (51.1\%) \\ \end{tabular}  & 37 & 10.7 & 18.6 & 16.3 & 40.2 & 0.14 & 137.8 \\ \hline
2021 & \begin{tabular}{c} 100 nm \\ GaN/SiC \\ \end{tabular}  & 1.8 & \ \begin{tabular}{c} 24 \\ (50.1\%) \\ \end{tabular}  & 12 & \begin{tabular}{c} **16.4** \\ **(83.5\%)** \\ \end{tabular}  & 28 & **14.8** & 15.5 & 11.6 & **23.6** & **0.11** & **106.5** \\ \hline
2022 & \begin{tabular}{c} 150 nm \\ GaN/SiC \\ \end{tabular}  & Three-stage CS & 12 & \ \begin{tabular}{c} 24-29 \\ (18.9\%) \\ \end{tabular}  & 20 & \begin{tabular}{c} 25-31 \\ (21.4\%) \\ \end{tabular}  & 29 & 20 & 34 & 30 * & 31.5 & 11.7 & 28.9 \\ \hline
2021 & \begin{tabular}{c} 40 nm \\ GaN/SiC \\ \end{tabular}  & 40 nm & \ \begin{tabular}{c} One-stage 3 rd \\ order input \\ matching \\ \end{tabular}