High Power silicon MMIC design for wireless base stations

This article presents the specificities of high power silicon MMIC, intended for wireless base station applications. Motorola´s LDMOS technology, and its integrated version (HVIC), are presented, with emphasis on the particularities of high power functions. The technical problems linked to the design of multistages power amplifiers, of 1OW and 30W output power are listed, and solutions are proposed. Two power amplifier circuits, a 900 MHz 3stages 30W and a 1800MHz 3 stages 10W and their associated performances demonstrate the validity of these solutions.