0.8-/1.5-GHz-Band WCDMA HBT MMIC Power Amplifiers with an Analog Bias Control Scheme

Kazuya YAMAMOTO; Takayuki MATSUZUKA; Miyo MIYASHITA; Kenichi MAEDA; Satoshi SUZUKI; Hiroaki SEKI

doi:10.1587/transele.E98.C.934

0.8-/1.5-GHz-Band WCDMA HBT MMIC Power Amplifiers with an Analog Bias Control Scheme

Kazuya YAMAMOTO, Takayuki MATSUZUKA, Miyo MIYASHITA, Kenichi MAEDA, Satoshi SUZUKI, Hiroaki SEKI

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This paper describes 0.8-/1.5-GHz-band GaAs-HBT power amplifier modules with a newly designed analog bias control scheme. This scheme has two features. One is to achieve approximately linear quiescent current control using not a BiFET process but only the usual HBT process. The other is to help improve linearity under reduced supply voltage and lower quiescent current operation. The following two key techniques are incorporated into the bias scheme. The first is to employ two different kinds of bias circuits: emitter follower bias and current injection bias. The second is the unique current injection bias block, based on the successful combination of an input buffer with an emitter resistance load and a current mirror. These techniques allow quiescent current control that is almost proportional to an externally applied analog control voltage. To confirm the effectiveness of the scheme, 0.8-GHz-band and 1.5-GHz-band power amplifier modules were designed and fabricated using the usual HBT process. Measurements conducted under the conditions of a 3.4V supply voltage and an HSDPA WCDMA modulated signal are as follows. The 0.8-GHz-band amplifier can deliver a 28-dBm output power (P_out), a 28.4-dB power gain (G_p), and 42% PAE while restricting the ACLR to less than -40dBc. For the 1.5-GHz-band amplifier, 28dBm of P_out, 29dB of G_p, and 41% of PAE are obtained with the same ACLR levels. The measurements also confirm that the quiescent current for the second stage in the amplifiers is approximately linearly changed from 14mA to 58mA over a control voltage ranging from 1.1V to 2.2V. In addition, our measured DG.09-based current dissipation with both supply voltage and analog bias controls is as low as 16.9mA, showing that the analog bias control scheme enables an average current reduction of more than 20%, as compared to a conventional supply voltage and two-step quiescent current control.

Publication: IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Electronics Vol.E98-C No.9 pp.934-945

Publication Date: 2015/09/01

Publicized

Online ISSN: 1745-1353

DOI: 10.1587/transele.E98.C.934

Type of Manuscript: PAPER

Category: Microwaves, Millimeter-Waves

Authors

Kazuya YAMAMOTO
  Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
Takayuki MATSUZUKA
  Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
Miyo MIYASHITA
  Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
Kenichi MAEDA
  Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
Satoshi SUZUKI
  Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
Hiroaki SEKI
  Mitsubishi Electric Corporation

Keyword

analog bias control, emitter follower, current injection, heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs), WCDMA

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Kazuya YAMAMOTO, Takayuki MATSUZUKA, Miyo MIYASHITA, Kenichi MAEDA, Satoshi SUZUKI, Hiroaki SEKI, "0.8-/1.5-GHz-Band WCDMA HBT MMIC Power Amplifiers with an Analog Bias Control Scheme" in IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Electronics, vol. E98-C, no. 9, pp. 934-945, September 2015, doi: 10.1587/transele.E98.C.934.
Abstract: This paper describes 0.8-/1.5-GHz-band GaAs-HBT power amplifier modules with a newly designed analog bias control scheme. This scheme has two features. One is to achieve approximately linear quiescent current control using not a BiFET process but only the usual HBT process. The other is to help improve linearity under reduced supply voltage and lower quiescent current operation. The following two key techniques are incorporated into the bias scheme. The first is to employ two different kinds of bias circuits: emitter follower bias and current injection bias. The second is the unique current injection bias block, based on the successful combination of an input buffer with an emitter resistance load and a current mirror. These techniques allow quiescent current control that is almost proportional to an externally applied analog control voltage. To confirm the effectiveness of the scheme, 0.8-GHz-band and 1.5-GHz-band power amplifier modules were designed and fabricated using the usual HBT process. Measurements conducted under the conditions of a 3.4V supply voltage and an HSDPA WCDMA modulated signal are as follows. The 0.8-GHz-band amplifier can deliver a 28-dBm output power (P_out), a 28.4-dB power gain (G_p), and 42% PAE while restricting the ACLR to less than -40dBc. For the 1.5-GHz-band amplifier, 28dBm of P_out, 29dB of G_p, and 41% of PAE are obtained with the same ACLR levels. The measurements also confirm that the quiescent current for the second stage in the amplifiers is approximately linearly changed from 14mA to 58mA over a control voltage ranging from 1.1V to 2.2V. In addition, our measured DG.09-based current dissipation with both supply voltage and analog bias controls is as low as 16.9mA, showing that the analog bias control scheme enables an average current reduction of more than 20%, as compared to a conventional supply voltage and two-step quiescent current control.
URL: https://globals.ieice.org/en_transactions/electronics/10.1587/transele.E98.C.934/_p

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@ARTICLE{e98-c_9_934,
author={Kazuya YAMAMOTO, Takayuki MATSUZUKA, Miyo MIYASHITA, Kenichi MAEDA, Satoshi SUZUKI, Hiroaki SEKI, },
journal={IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Electronics},
title={0.8-/1.5-GHz-Band WCDMA HBT MMIC Power Amplifiers with an Analog Bias Control Scheme},
year={2015},
volume={E98-C},
number={9},
pages={934-945},
abstract={This paper describes 0.8-/1.5-GHz-band GaAs-HBT power amplifier modules with a newly designed analog bias control scheme. This scheme has two features. One is to achieve approximately linear quiescent current control using not a BiFET process but only the usual HBT process. The other is to help improve linearity under reduced supply voltage and lower quiescent current operation. The following two key techniques are incorporated into the bias scheme. The first is to employ two different kinds of bias circuits: emitter follower bias and current injection bias. The second is the unique current injection bias block, based on the successful combination of an input buffer with an emitter resistance load and a current mirror. These techniques allow quiescent current control that is almost proportional to an externally applied analog control voltage. To confirm the effectiveness of the scheme, 0.8-GHz-band and 1.5-GHz-band power amplifier modules were designed and fabricated using the usual HBT process. Measurements conducted under the conditions of a 3.4V supply voltage and an HSDPA WCDMA modulated signal are as follows. The 0.8-GHz-band amplifier can deliver a 28-dBm output power (P_out), a 28.4-dB power gain (G_p), and 42% PAE while restricting the ACLR to less than -40dBc. For the 1.5-GHz-band amplifier, 28dBm of P_out, 29dB of G_p, and 41% of PAE are obtained with the same ACLR levels. The measurements also confirm that the quiescent current for the second stage in the amplifiers is approximately linearly changed from 14mA to 58mA over a control voltage ranging from 1.1V to 2.2V. In addition, our measured DG.09-based current dissipation with both supply voltage and analog bias controls is as low as 16.9mA, showing that the analog bias control scheme enables an average current reduction of more than 20%, as compared to a conventional supply voltage and two-step quiescent current control.},
keywords={},
doi={10.1587/transele.E98.C.934},
ISSN={1745-1353},
month={September},}

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TY - JOUR
TI - 0.8-/1.5-GHz-Band WCDMA HBT MMIC Power Amplifiers with an Analog Bias Control Scheme
T2 - IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Electronics
SP - 934
EP - 945
AU - Kazuya YAMAMOTO
AU - Takayuki MATSUZUKA
AU - Miyo MIYASHITA
AU - Kenichi MAEDA
AU - Satoshi SUZUKI
AU - Hiroaki SEKI
PY - 2015
DO - 10.1587/transele.E98.C.934
JO - IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Electronics
SN - 1745-1353
VL - E98-C
IS - 9
JA - IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Electronics
Y1 - September 2015
AB - This paper describes 0.8-/1.5-GHz-band GaAs-HBT power amplifier modules with a newly designed analog bias control scheme. This scheme has two features. One is to achieve approximately linear quiescent current control using not a BiFET process but only the usual HBT process. The other is to help improve linearity under reduced supply voltage and lower quiescent current operation. The following two key techniques are incorporated into the bias scheme. The first is to employ two different kinds of bias circuits: emitter follower bias and current injection bias. The second is the unique current injection bias block, based on the successful combination of an input buffer with an emitter resistance load and a current mirror. These techniques allow quiescent current control that is almost proportional to an externally applied analog control voltage. To confirm the effectiveness of the scheme, 0.8-GHz-band and 1.5-GHz-band power amplifier modules were designed and fabricated using the usual HBT process. Measurements conducted under the conditions of a 3.4V supply voltage and an HSDPA WCDMA modulated signal are as follows. The 0.8-GHz-band amplifier can deliver a 28-dBm output power (P_out), a 28.4-dB power gain (G_p), and 42% PAE while restricting the ACLR to less than -40dBc. For the 1.5-GHz-band amplifier, 28dBm of P_out, 29dB of G_p, and 41% of PAE are obtained with the same ACLR levels. The measurements also confirm that the quiescent current for the second stage in the amplifiers is approximately linearly changed from 14mA to 58mA over a control voltage ranging from 1.1V to 2.2V. In addition, our measured DG.09-based current dissipation with both supply voltage and analog bias controls is as low as 16.9mA, showing that the analog bias control scheme enables an average current reduction of more than 20%, as compared to a conventional supply voltage and two-step quiescent current control.
ER -