Advanced RF CMOS power amplifier with a monolithic high‐ Q transformer on a thick laminated organic layer

We propose a new transformer structure for output matching networks to improve the power‐added efficiency (PAE) of CMOS power amplifiers (PAs). To minimize the effects of a lossy silicon substrate, the transformer is realized on a very thick organic layer which is formed by lamination process. The maximum available gain of the transformer is improved from −1.23 to −0.68 dB as the insulator thickness is changed from 3 to 60 μm. As a result, the PAE of the proposed CMOS PA with the proposed monolithic high‐Q transformer shows a maximum output power of 24.98 dBm with a 30.49% PAE at 2.4 GHz.