A 2.4‐GHz CMOS power amplifier using a gain and stability enhancement technique for IEEE 802.11N WLAN applications

Abstract

In this work, we propose a gain and stability enhancement technique with compact size for RF CMOS linear power amplifier applications. The proposed amplifier is designed with differential and cascode structures. To realize a compact size of the power amplifier, the driver stage is merged into the power stage of the power amplifier. To minimize the number of essentially required inductors, the load impedance of the power stage is shared with the driver stage of the power amplifier. Additionally, to moderate stability problems in the power amplifier, the closed loop is removed using a common‐gate transistor, which operates in the saturation region. The power amplifier can then operate in the linear operation. To prove the feasibility of the proposed linear amplifier, we designed a 2.4 GHz CMOS power amplifier using the 180‐nm RF CMOS process. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 58:2265–2268, 2016

Switching-Mode Cmos Power Amplifier Using a Differentially Coupled Series Inductor

“…Since the closed loop in the typical mode-locking structure is removed, the stability is enhanced in the modified mode-locking structure. At the same time, the advantages of the cross coupled structure of the typical mode-locking amplifier are maintained in the modified mode-locking amplifier [15]. The load impedance designed by the inductor shown in Fig.…”

“…The amplifier is designed with a differential cascode structure to mitigate the gain reduction and reliability problems. The modified mode-locking structure proposed in the previous work is used to obtain high gain and stability at the same time [15]. Since the closed loop in the typical mode-locking structure is removed, the stability is enhanced in the modified mode-locking structure.…”

“…4 is shared by two amplifiers: one is composed of M CS and M CG , and the other is composed of M MCS and M MCG . Although a modified mode-locking structure was proposed for the linear amplifier applications in the previous work [15], we adjust the gate bias and the transistor size for the amplifier to operate as an overdriven class-E amplifier in this work. To extract the characteristics of the proposed structure, we designed the amplifier with a single-stage structure.…”

2.4‐GHz CMOS linear power amplifier for IEEE 802.11N WLAN applications

“…Demand for fully‐integrated transceivers including a RF power amplifier for WLAN solutions has recently increased in efforts to realize low‐cost system solutions . Accordingly, fully‐integrated RF front‐ends including RF power amplifiers for WLAN applications are considered an essential technology.…”