A Multimode/Multiband Power Amplifier With a Boosted Supply Modulator

A multimode/multiband power amplifier (PA) with a boosted supply modulator is developed for handset applications. A linear broadband class-F amplifier is designed to have a constant fundamental impedance across 1.7-2 GHz and its second and third harmonic impedances are located at the high-efficiency area. To reduce the circuit size for handset application, the harmonic control circuits are merged into the broadband output matching circuit for the fundamental frequency. An envelope-tracking operation delivers high efficiency for the overall power. The linearity is improved by envelope tracking (ET) through intermodulation-distortion sweet-spot tracking at the maximum output power level. The efficiency and bandwidth (BW) are enhanced by a boosted supply modulator. Multimode operation is achieved by an ET technique with a programmable hysteresis control and automatic switching current adaptation of the hybrid supply modulator. For demonstration purpose, the PA and supply modulator are implemented using an InGaP/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor and a 65-nm CMOS process. For a long-term evolution signal, the envelope-tracking (ET) PA delivers a power-added efficiency (PAE) and an error vector magnitude of 33.3%-39% and 2.5%-3.5%, respectively, at an average power of 27.8 dBm across 1.7-2 GHz. For a wideband code-division multiple-access signal across 1.7-2 GHz, the ET PA performs a PAE, an ACLR1, and an ACLR2 of 40%-46.3%, from -39 to -42.5 dBc, and -51 to -58 dBc, respectively, at an average output power of 30.1 dBm. The ET PA with an EDGE signal delivers a PAE, an ACPR1, and an ACPR2 of 37%-42%, from -56.5 to -59.3 dBc, and -63.5 to -69.5 dBc, respectively, at an average power of 28 dBm across the 300-MHz BW. These results show that the proposed design achieves highly efficient and linear power amplification for multimode/multiband wireless communication applications.