An MMIC smart power amplifier of 21% PAE at 16 dBm power level for W-CDMA mobile communication terminals

Abstract

We demonstrate a new MMIC smart power amplifier, which consists of dual chain power amplifiers with a single matching network, the power added efficiency (PAE) of which, for 16 dBm output power, is as much as 21%, which represents more than a factor of three improvement of the PAE while satisfying all W-CDMA specifications. The power amplifier has been devised with two different parallel connected InGaP/GaAs HBT power amplifiers, each amplifier fitted to different a maximum power value: one to 17.5 dBm for low power mode and the other to 28 dBm for high power mode. The low power mode reveals -33 dBc of adjacent channel leakage power ratio (ACLR) at 16 dBm with 14 mA of quiescent current. The high power mode exhibits 40% of PAE and -30 dBc of ACLR at the maximum output power of 28 dBm.