scholarly journals Ultra-Compact mm-Wave Monolithic IC Doherty Power Amplifier for Mobile Handsets

Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (17) ◽  
pp. 2131
Author(s):  
Maryam Sajedin ◽  
Issa Elfergani ◽  
Jonathan Rodriguez ◽  
Raed Abd-Alhameed ◽  
Monica Fernandez-Barciela ◽  
...  

This work develops a novel dynamic load modulation Power Amplifier (PA) circuity that can provide an optimum compromise between linearity and efficiency while covering multiple cellular frequency bands. Exploiting monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMIC) technology, a fully integrated 1W Doherty PA architecture is proposed based on 0.1 μm AlGaAs/InGaAs Depletion-Mode (D-Mode) technology provided by the WIN Semiconductors foundry. The proposed wideband DPA incorporates the harmonic tuning Class-J mode of operation, which aims to engineer the voltage waveform via second harmonic capacitive load termination. Moreover, the applied post-matching technique not only reduces the impedance transformation ratio of the conventional DPA, but also restores its proper load modulation. The simulation results indicate that the monolithic drive load modulation PA at 4 V operation voltage delivers 44% PAE at the maximum output power of 30 dBm at the 1 dB compression point, and 34% power-added efficiency (PAE) at 6 dB power back-off (PBO). A power gain flatness of around 14 ± 0.5 dB was achieved over the frequency band of 23 GHz to 27 GHz. The compact MMIC load modulation technique developed for the 5G mobile handset occupies the die area of 3.2 mm2.

Author(s):  
Seyedehmarzieh Rouhani ◽  
Kasra Rouhi ◽  
Adib Abrishamifar ◽  
Majid Tayarani

In this work, a premise is applied to the conventional load modulation equation of Doherty power amplifier (DPA) in 0.25 m GaAs pHEMT technology to compensate output impedance of main amplifier ( Z out,main ) variation, even in low power region. Using this modified modulation leads to the DPAs power added efficiency (PAE) increase in comparison by the case in which the load modulation revision is ignored, which is also designed in this paper. Second harmonic rejection networks are also added to both designs to play their roles as to efficiency increase. By doing so, the revised load modulation based DPA has the maximum PAE of 39.6%, maximum output power ( P out ) of 31.61dBm, at 8 GHz. Simulation results of this DPA in higher harmonics indicate the designed DPA has the minimum second and third harmonics power of -51.7 dBm and -80 dBm, respectively. For the sake of linearity evaluation, it is depicted that 1dB-power gain compression has not occurred in the input power (P in ) range in which the proposed DPA works.


Author(s):  
Seyedehmarzieh Rouhani ◽  
Kasra Rouhi ◽  
Adib Abrishamifar ◽  
Majid Tayarani

This paper presents an approach to power added efficiency (PAE) increase for Quasi-Doherty power amplifier (Q-DPA) design. For this aim, active feedback is utilized instead of a passive quarter wavelength transmission line (TL) usage, which is conventionally used in the DPA schematic. PAE increase can be done by applying an accurate load modulation to the main amplifier (PAmain), especially for technologies in which output impedance of the main power amplifier (Zout,main) considerably varies in both low and high power regions. Because such precise modulation is still based on a modified TL, this approach suffers from the inherent narrowband behavior of that TL. As a consequence, expecting a wideband DPA may not be satisfied in all cases. To deal with this issue, active feedback is used to play a role in reaching PAmain, which is not saturated before, to its maximum efficiency at the highest level of received input power (Pin) in the high power region. Following Zout,main trajectories in power and frequency sweeps simultaneously just by a passive TL are not needed anymore. Still, for the sake of preventing total PAE degradation due to the consummated power by the feedback path’s power amplifier (PAfeedback) should be limited, analytical confinement is provided in this work. A comparison is made between GaAs pHEMT 0.25um MMIC technology-based conventional DPA and the proposed revised approach based-DPA to verify the mentioned approach. The proposed PA shows maximum output power of 33.4 dBm, maximum PAE of 41.6, fractional bandwidth of 11%. The Q-DPA works with a maximum power gain of 24.16.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Premmilaah Gunasegaran ◽  
Jagadheswaran Rajendran ◽  
Selvakumar Mariappan ◽  
Yusman Mohd Yusof ◽  
Zulfiqar Ali Abdul Aziz ◽  
...  

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new linearization technique known as the passive linearizer technique which does not affect the power added efficiency (PAE) while maintaining a power gain of more than 20 dB for complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) power amplifier (PA). Design/methodology/approach The linearization mechanism is executed with an aid of a passive linearizer implemented at the gate of the main amplifier to minimize the effect of Cgs capacitance through the generation of opposite phase response at the main amplifier. The inductor-less output matching network presents an almost lossless output matching network which contributes to high gain, PAE and output power. The linearity performance is improved without the penalty of power consumption, power gain and stability. Findings With this topology, the PA delivers more than 20 dB gain for the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Band from 2.4 GHz to 2.5 GHz with a supply headroom of 1.8 V. At the center frequency of 2.45 GHz, the PA exhibits a gain of 23.3 dB with corresponding peak PAE of 40.11% at a maximum output power of 14.3 dBm. At a maximum linear output power of 12.7 dBm, a PAE of 37.3% has been achieved with a peak third order intermodulation product of 28.04 dBm with a power consumption of 50.58 mW. This corresponds to ACLR of – 20 dBc, thus qualifying the PA to operate for BLE operation. Practical implications The proposed technique is able to boost up the efficiency and output power, as well as linearize the PA closer to 1 dB compression point. This reduces the trade-off between linear output power and PAE in CMOS PA design. Originality/value The proposed CMOS PA can be integrated comfortably to a BLE transmitter, allowing it to reduce the transceiver’s overall power consumption.


2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vittorio Camarchia ◽  
Rocco Giofrè ◽  
Iacopo Magrini ◽  
Luca Piazzon ◽  
Alessandro Cidronali ◽  
...  

This paper presents an investigation of a concurrent low-cost dual-band power amplifier (PA) fabricated in SiGe technology, able to simultaneously operate at two frequencies of 2.45 and 3.5-GHz, including an evaluation of its system level performance potentiality. Taking into account the technology novelty and the lack of device characterization and modeling, a hybrid (MIC) approach has been adopted both for a fast prototyping of the PA and for the evaluation of the device potentiality based on an extensive linear and nonlinear characterization. The comparison of PA performance in single-band or concurrent mode operation will be presented. In particular, the measured PA prototype shows an output power of 17.2 and 17-dBm at a 1-dB compression point, at 2.45 and 3.5-GHz, respectively, for CW single-mode operation, with a power added efficiency around 20%. System-level analysis predicts that, when the PA is operated under the 20-MHz Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) concurrent signals, the maximum output power levels to maintain the Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) within 5% are 11 and 3.5-dBm at 2.45 and 3.5-GHz, respectively. Moreover, new concepts and possible new system architectures for the development of the next generation of the multi-band transceiver front-end will be provided with an extensive system-level evaluation of the amplifier.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chang-Hsi Wu ◽  
Hong-Cheng You ◽  
Shun-Zhao Huang

Abstract An architecture of 5.2/5.8-GHz dual-band on-off keying (DBOOK) modulated transmitter is designed in a 0.18-μm CMOS technology. The proposed DBOOK transmitter is used in the biosignal transmission system with high power efficiency and small area. To reduce power consumption and enhance output swing, two pairs of center-tapped transformers are used as both LC tank and source grounding choke for the designed voltage controlled oscillator (VCO). Switching capacitances are used to achieve dual band operations, and a complemented power combiner is used to merge the differential output power of VCO to a single-ended output. Besides, the linearizer circuits are used in the proposed power amplifier with wideband output matching to improve the linearity both at 5.2/5.8-GHz bands. The designed DBOOK transmitter is implemented by dividing it into two chips. One chip implements the dual-band switching VCO and power combiner, and the other chip implements a linear power amplifier including dual-band operation. The first chip drives an output power of 2.2mW with consuming power of 5.13 mW from 1.1 V supply voltage. With the chip size including pad of 0.61 × 0.91 m2, the measured data rate and transmission efficiency attained are 100 Mb/s and 51 pJ/bit, respectively. The second chip, for power enhanced mode, exhibits P1 dB of −9 dBm, IIP3 of 1 dBm, the output power 1 dB compression point of 12.42 dBm, OIP3 of about 21 dBm, maximum output power of 17.02/16.18 dBm, and power added efficiency of 17.13/16.95% for 5.2/ 5.8 GHz. The chip size including pads is 0:693 × 1:084mm2.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (HiTEN) ◽  
pp. 000114-000117
Author(s):  
S. Reza Hiemstra ◽  
Brannon M. Kerrigan ◽  
Dong S. Ha

Abstract In order to reach previously untapped wells, the oil and gas industry continues to drill deeper, resulting in extreme operating temperatures for electronic systems. It is essential for electronic circuits and systems to be able to withstand extreme temperatures. The proposed power amplifier (PA) intends for a downhole communication system operating at an ambient temperature of 230 °C. The proposed PA is designed with Qorvo T2G6003028-FL GaN on SiC HEMT, which offers a high junction temperature. The proposed PA can operate reliably up to an ambient temperature of 230 °C with the operation frequency from 228 MHz to 263 MHz. At 230 °C, it achieves maximum output power of 1.66 W, the peak gain of 24 dB, peak PAE (power added efficiency) of 25%, OP1dB (output 1-db compression point) of 32 dBm, and OIP3 (output third intercept point) of 37.9 dBm..


2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 447-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sascha A. Figur ◽  
Friedbert van Raay ◽  
Rüdiger Quay ◽  
Larissa Vietzorreck ◽  
Volker Ziegler

This work presents radio-frequency-microelectromechanical-system (RF-MEMS)-based tunable input- and output-matching networks for a multi-band gallium nitride (GaN) power-amplifier applications. In the first part, circuit designs are shown and characterized for a fixed operation mode of the transistor, i.e. either a maximum-output-power- or a maximum-power-added-efficiency (PAE)-mode, which are finally combined into a multi-mode-matching network (M3N); the M3N allows to tune the operation mode of the transistor independently of its operational frequency. The matching networks are designed to provide optimum matching for the power amplifier at three to six different operating frequencies for maximum-output-power- and maximum-PAE-mode. In the frequency range from 3.5 to 8.5 GHz, return losses of 10 dB and higher were measured and insertion losses of 0.5–1.9 dB were demonstrated for the output-matching networks. Further characterizations were performed to test the dependency on the RF-input power, and no changes were observed up to power levels of 34 dBm when cold-switched.


2013 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Harikrishnan Ramiah ◽  
U. Eswaran ◽  
J. Kanesan

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.


2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (08) ◽  
pp. 1450113 ◽  
Author(s):  
MOHAMMAD MOGHADDAM TABRIZI ◽  
NASSER MASOUMI

In this work, a novel and efficient approach is proposed to optimize linearity and efficiency of a power amplifier used in mobile communication applications. A linear and high performance push amplifier is designed and analyzed to extract design equations for an optimum performance. The proposed push amplifier has two sections; an analog section and a switching section. The analog section provides the required linearity and the switching section guarantees the satisfaction of the total efficiency level. Double power supply scheme is used in push amplifiers to enhance its performance. Two separate power supplies are employed for linear and switching sections of push amplifiers which have different voltage levels. The implemented circuit is simulated using HSPICERF with TSMC models for active and passive elements. The proposed power amplifier (PA) provides a maximum output power of 25 dBm and power added efficiency (PAE) as high as 51% at 2.5 GHz operation frequency. At 1-dB compression point, this PA exhibits output power of 25 dBm with 48% PAE and 4.5% error vector magnitude (EVM) which is appropriate for 64QAM OFDM signals.


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