High performance silicon bipolar power amplifier for 1.8 GHz applications

Author

Carrara, F. ; Castorina, A. ; Scuderi, A. ; Palmisano, G.

Author_Institution

Facolta di Ingegneria, Catania Univ., Italy

Volume

2

fYear

2002

Firstpage

1015

Abstract

The potential of a high-performance low-cost silicon bipolar technology for high-efficiency low-voltage RF power amplifiers has been explored. To this end, a unit power cell has been developed by optimizing layout design, collector thickness and doping level. On-wafer load-pull measurements were performed which showed an excellent power-added efficiency of 83% at 1.8 GHz under a supply voltage of 2.7 V. The optimized unit power cell was employed to implement a 1.8 GHz three-stage monolithic power amplifier. The device achieved a 57% maximum power-added efficiency and 33-dB gain at a 34-dBm output power level while operating at 2.7 V.

Keywords

UHF integrated circuits; UHF power amplifiers; bipolar analogue integrated circuits; circuit optimisation; doping profiles; elemental semiconductors; integrated circuit layout; integrated circuit measurement; silicon; 1.8 GHz; 2.7 V; 33 dB; 57 percent; 83 percent; Si; amplifier gain; collector thickness optimization; doping level optimization; layout design optimization; low-voltage RF power amplifiers; maximum power-added efficiency; on-wafer load-pull measurements; optimized unit power cell; output power level; silicon bipolar power amplifier; silicon bipolar technology; supply voltage; three-stage monolithic power amplifier; unit power cell; Design optimization; Doping; High power amplifiers; Performance evaluation; Power amplifiers; Power measurement; Radio frequency; Radiofrequency amplifiers; Silicon; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Symposium Digest, 2002 IEEE MTT-S International

ISSN

0149-645X

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7239-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MWSYM.2002.1011802

Filename

1011802