A 2.4-GHz, 27-dBm Asymmetric Multilevel Outphasing Power Amplifier in 65-nm CMOS

Author

Godoy, Philip A. ; Chung, SungWon ; Barton, Taylor W. ; Perreault, David J. ; Dawson, Joel L.

Author_Institution

Marvell Semicond., Santa Clara, CA, USA

Volume

47

Issue

10

fYear

2012

Firstpage

2372

Lastpage

2384

Abstract

We present a 2.4-GHz asymmetric multilevel outphasing (AMO) power amplifier (PA) with class-E branch amplifiers and discrete supply modulators integrated in a 65-nm CMOS process. AMO PAs achieve improved modulation bandwidth and efficiency over envelope tracking (ET) PAs by replacing the continuous supply modulator with a discrete supply modulator implemented with a fast digital switching network. Outphasing modulation is used to provide the required fine output envelope control. The AMO PA delivers 27.7-dBm peak output power with 45% system efficiency at 2.4 GHz. For a 20-MHz WLAN OFDM signal with 7.5-dB PAPR, the AMO PA achieves a drain efficiency of 31.9% and a system efficiency of 27.6% with an EVM of 2.7% rms.

Keywords

CMOS analogue integrated circuits; modulators; power amplifiers; AMO PA; AMO power amplifier; CMOS process; ET PA; EVM; PAPR; WLAN OFDM signal; asymmetric multilevel outphasing power amplifier; class-E branch amplifier; continuous supply modulator; digital switching network; discrete supply modulator; drain efficiency; envelope tracking; frequency 2.4 GHz; frequency 20 MHz; modulation bandwidth; outphasing modulation; output envelope control; size 65 nm; system efficiency; CMOS integrated circuits; Distortion measurement; Linearity; Modulation; Phase measurement; Power generation; Vectors; Digital predistortion; discrete supply modulator; linear amplification with nonlinear components (LINC); outphasing; power amplifier (PA);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Solid-State Circuits, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9200

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JSSC.2012.2202810

Filename

6241449