Modeling and Design Techniques for RF Power Amplifiers

This paper describes the design of a power amplifier (PA) for 802.11n WLAN fabricated in 65 nm CMOS technology. The PA utilizes 3.3 V thick gate oxide (5.2 nm) transistors and a two-stage differential configuration with integrated transformers for input and interstage matching. A methodology used to extract the layout parasitics from electromagnetic (EM) simulations is described. For a 72.2 Mbit/s, 64-QAM, 802.11n OFDM signal at an average and peak output power of 11.6 and 19.6 dBm, respectively, the measured EVM is 3.8%. The PA meets the spectral mask up to an average output power of 17 dBm.

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“…7, which due to dopant segregation during silicidation can be relatively high, and thus will influence the gain of the PA and f max [22]. In Fig.…”

Section: Parasitics Extractionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A 3.3 V 72.2 Mbit/s 802.11n WLAN transformer-based power amplifier in 65 nm CMOS

Fritzin

Alvandpour

2009

Analog Integr Circ Sig Process

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“…The EVM [5,7] determines the error between the measured transmit signal (in case of transmitter) and the reference signal. It is defined as the ratio of the error vector (V error ) to the reference signal vector (V ref ).…”

Section: Linearitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The two common parameters to measure the linearity of the transmitter are adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR) and error vector magnitude (EVM). The ACLR [5,7] is the ratio of the average powers in the transmission band to the adjacent bands. Fig.…”

Section: Linearitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two measure of efficiency i.e, drain efficiency (DE) and power added efficiency (P AE) are interchangeably used when characterizing transmitter. The drain efficiency [5][6][7] is ratio the transmitter's output power P out to the consumed DC power P dc and is given as…”

Section: Efficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The power added efficiency [5][6][7] is ratio of the difference between output power and input power P in to the dc power consumption and is given as…”

Section: Efficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pulse-Width Modulated RF Transmitters

Haque¹

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To my mother, father, and uncle (mamoo), AbstractThe market for wireless portable devices has grown significantly over the recent years. Wireless devices with ever-increased functionality require high rate data transmission and reduced costs. High data rate is achieved through communication standards such as LTE and WLAN, which generate signals with high peak-to-average-power ratio (PAPR), hence requiring a power amplifier (PA) that can handle a large dynamic range signal. To keep the costs low, modern CMOS processes allow the integration of the digital, analog and radio functions on to a single chip. However, the design of PAs with large dynamic range and high efficiency is challenging due to the low voltage headroom.To prolong the battery life, the PAs have to be power-efficient as they consume a sizable percentage of the total power. For LTE and WLAN, traditional transmitters operate the PA at back-off power, below their peak efficiency, whereas pulse-width modulation (PWM) transmitters use the PA at their peak power, resulting in a higher efficiency. PWM transmitters can use both linear and SMPAs where the latter are more power efficient and easy to implement in nanometer CMOS. The PWM transmitters have a higher efficiency but suffer from image and aliasing distortion, resulting in a lower dynamic range, amplitude and phase resolution.This thesis studies several new transmitter architectures to improve the dynamic range, amplitude and phase resolution of PWM transmitters with relaxed filtering requirements. The architectures are suited for fully integrated CMOS solutions, in particular for portable applications.The first transmitter (MAF-PWMT) eliminates aliasing and image distortions while allowing the use of SMPAs by combining RF-PWM and band-limited PWM. The transmitter can be implemented using all-digital techniques and exhibits an improved linearity and spectral performance. The approach is validated using a Class-D PA based transmitter where an improvement of 10.2 dB in the dynamic range compared to a PWM transmitter for a 1.4 MHz of LTE signal is achieved.The second transmitter (AC-PWMT) compensates for aliasing distortion by combining PWM and outphasing. It can be used with switch-mode PAs (SMPAs) or linear PAs at peak power. The proposed transmitter shows better linearity, improved spectral performance and increased dynamic range as it does not suffer from AM-AM distortion of the PAs and aliasing distortion due to digital PWM. The idea is validated using push-pull PAs and the proposed transmitter shows an improvement of 9 dB in the dynamic range as compared v vi Abstract to a PWM transmitter using digital pulse-width modulation for a 1.4 MHz LTE signal.The third transmitter (MD-PWMT) is an all-digital implementation of the second transmitter. The PWM is implemented using a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) core, and outphasing is implemented as pulse-position modulation using FPGA transceivers, which drive two class-D PAs. The digital implementation offers the flexibility to adapt the transmitter...

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Normalized Nonlinear Semiempirical MOST Model Used in Monolithic RF Class A-to-C PAs

Fiorelli

Barabino

Silveira

et al. 2019

Circuits Syst Signal Process

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This paper presents a simple but accurate normalized non-linear largesignal semi-empirical MOS transistor model to be used in monolithic RF Class A-to-C PAs. MOS transistor characteristics, saved in look-up tables, are extracted for different PVT corners, allowing the study of the PA performance spread. Model accuracy is ratified by the excellent matching obtained when comparing data algebraically calculated with electrical simulations of hundreds of PAs, and with the measurement data of a fabricated 2.4 GHz PA.

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Modeling and Design Techniques for RF Power Amplifiers

Cited by 13 publications

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A 3.3 V 72.2 Mbit/s 802.11n WLAN transformer-based power amplifier in 65 nm CMOS

A 3.3 V 72.2 Mbit/s 802.11n WLAN transformer-based power amplifier in 65 nm CMOS

Pulse-Width Modulated RF Transmitters

Normalized Nonlinear Semiempirical MOST Model Used in Monolithic RF Class A-to-C PAs

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