A fully integrated, highly linear SiGe BiCMOS class-AB power amplifier targeting 2.4GHz applications

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to design and realize a high gain power amplifier (PA) with low output back-off power using the InGaP/GaAs HBT process for WCDMA applications from 1.85 to 1.91 GHz. Design/methodology/approach – A three stages cascaded PA is designed which observes a high power gain. A 100 mA of quiescent current helps the PA to operate efficiently. The final stage device dimension has been selected diligently in order to deliver a high output power. The inter-stage match between the driver and main stage has been designed to provide maximum power transfer. The output matching network is constructed to deliver a high linear output power which meets the WCDMA adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR) requirement of −33 dBc close to the 1 dB gain compression point. Findings – With the cascaded topology, a maximum 31.3 dB of gain is achieved at 1.9 GHz. S11 of less than −18 dB is achieved across the operating frequency band. The maximum output power is indicated to be 32.7 dBm. An ACLR of −33 dBc is achieved at maximum linear output power of 31 dBm. Practical implications – The designed PA is an excellent candidate to be employed in the WCDMA transmitter chain without the aid of additional driver amplifier and linearization circuits. Originality/value – In this work, a fully integrated GaAs HBT PA has been implemented which is capable to operate linearly close to its 1 dB gain compression point.

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A wideband fully integrated SiGe BiCMOS medium power amplifier

2005 European Microwave Conference ◽

10.1109/eumc.2005.1610267 ◽

2005 ◽

Author(s):

Hyun-Cheol Bae ◽

Sang-Hoon Kim ◽

Young-Joo Song ◽

Sang-Heung Lee ◽

Ja-Yol Lee ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Power Amplifier ◽

Fully Integrated ◽

Sige Bicmos

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A 0.7W fully integrated 42GHz power amplifier with 10% PAE in 0.13µm SiGe BiCMOS

2013 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference Digest of Technical Papers ◽

10.1109/isscc.2013.6487673 ◽

2013 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Wei Tai ◽

L. R. Carley ◽

D. S. Ricketts

Keyword(s):

Power Amplifier ◽

Fully Integrated ◽

Sige Bicmos

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A Fully Integrated S-Band Power Amplifier in 0.35um-SiGe BiCMOS Technology

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.403-408.2481 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 403-408 ◽

pp. 2481-2484

Author(s):

Kang Li ◽

Guo Dong Huang ◽

Xiao Feng Yang ◽

Qian Feng ◽

Chao Xian Zhu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Power Amplifier ◽

High Efficiency ◽

Small Signal ◽

Two Stage ◽

Fully Integrated ◽

Matching Networks ◽

Band Power ◽

Bicmos Technology ◽

Sige Bicmos ◽

On Chip

A fully integrated S-band high efficiency power amplifier using the TSMC 0.35 um SiGe BiCMOS technology is presented. The two-stage power amplifier has been optimized for the whole S-band covering 2 GHz to 4 GHz frequency band for higher 1-dB compression point and efficiency. The input and output matching networks are designed on chip. From the simulate result, the two-stage power amplifier achieves high PAE of 28% and saturation output power of 23.3 dBm at 3 GHz, with the small signal gain of 18.7 dB. Besides, this PA realizes the PAE within the band of 2.4GHz to 4GHz exceed 25%, and the highest PAE of 30.6% at 3.4 GHz.

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