A MEMS Reconfigurable Quad-Band Class-E Power Amplifier for GSM Standard

In this work we present a reconfigurable mid-power class-E power amplifier (PA) operating at ~900 MHz and ~1800 MHz (GSM standard) realized hybridizing one chip manufactured in AMS 0.35 mum CMOS technology and one MEMS sub-network. The CMOS chip realizes the active part of the circuit, whereas the MEMS block (realized in FBK technology) implements a reconfigurable impedance matching network (MN) that transforms the 50 Omega antenna load to the 12 Omega impedance required by the PA in order to deliver 20 dBm output power in both the GSM operating frequency bands. The prototype of the MEMS/CMOS PA we realized delivers 20 dBm with 38% and 26% drain efficiencies at 900 MHz and 1800 MHz, respectively, demonstrating to be a feasible option compared to standard commercial solutions.