Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering (한국정보통신학회논문지)

The Korea Institute of Information and Commucation Engineering (한국정보통신학회)
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Quad-Band RF CMOS Power Amplifier for Wireless Communications

무선 통신을 위한 Quad-band RF CMOS 전력증폭기

  • Lee, Milim (School of Electronic Engineering, Soongsil University) ;
  • Yang, Junhyuk (School of Electronic Engineering, Soongsil University) ;
  • Park, Changkun (School of Electronic Engineering, Soongsil University)
  • Received : 2019.05.29
  • Accepted : 2019.06.11
  • Published : 2019.07.31
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Abstract

In this paper, we design a power amplifier to support quad-band in wireless communication devices using RF CMOS 180-nm process. The proposed power amplifier consists of low-band 0.9, 1.8, and 2.4 GHz and high-band 5 GHz. We proposed a structure that can support each input matching network without using a switch. For maximum linear output power, the output matching network was designed for impedance conversion to the power matching point. The fabricated quad-band power amplifier was verified using modulation signals. The long-term evolution(LTE) 10 MHz modulated signal was used for 0.9 and 1.8 GHz, and the measured output power is 23.55 and 24.23 dBm, respectively. The LTE 20 MHz modulated signal was used for 1.8 GHz, and the measured output power is 22.24 dBm. The wireless local area network(WLAN) 802.11n modulated signal was used for 2.4 GHz and 5.0 GHz. We obtain maximum linear output power of 20.58 dBm at 2.4 GHz and 17.7 dBm at 5.0 GHz.

본 논문에서는 RF CMOS 180-nm 공정을 이용하여 무선 통신 기기에서 quad-band를 지원하기 위한 전력 증폭기를 설계하였다. 제안한 전력증폭기는 low-band인 0.9,1.8,2.4 GHz 와 high-band인 5 GHz 로 구성되어있으며, 각각 입력 정합회로에서는 스위치를 사용하지 않는 구조를 제안하였다. 그리고 최대 선형 전력 확보를 위해 출력 정합회로는 각 주파수 대역에서의 전력 정합지점으로 임피던스 변환을 진행하였다. 제안한 전력증폭기는 무선 통신 변조 신호를 사용하여 검증하였다. Long-term evolution(LTE) 10 MHz 변조 신호를 이용하여 0.9 GHz 및 1.8 GHz 를 측정하였으며, 이때 출력 전력은 각각 23.55 dBm 및 24.23 dBm으로 측정 되었고, 20 MHz 변조 신호를 사용한 경우, 1.8 GHz에서 출력 전력 22.24 dBm 이 측정되었다. Wireless local area network(WLAN) 802.11n 변조 신호를 이용하여 2.4 GHz 및 5.0 GHz 대역을 측정하였으며, 출력 전력은 20.58 dBm 및 17.7 dBm으로 확인되었다.

Keywords

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Fig. 1 Input matching network structure.

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Fig. 2 Input transformer structure (a) low-band and (b) high-band.

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Fig. 3 Simulation results of normalized input matching network impedance.

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Fig. 4 Simulation results of harmonic distortion output load voltage waveform at 0.9 GHz.

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Fig. 5 Simulation results of each frequency load-pull impedance.

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Fig. 6 Output transformer structure (a) low-band and (b) high-band.

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Fig. 7 Simulation results of output matching network impedance transformation.

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Fig. 8 Schematic of the quad-band power amplifier.

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Fig. 9 Simulation results of S-parameters.

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Fig. 10 Quad-band power amplifier chip photograph.

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Fig. 11 Measured S-parameters.

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Fig. 12 Measured (a) gain, PAE and ACPR and (b) constellation of the quad-band PA for LTE 10 MHz modulated signals at 0.95 GHz.

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Fig. 13 Measured (a) gain, PAE and ACPR, (b) LTE 10 MHz constellation and (c) LTE 20 MHz constellation of the quad-band PA for modulated signals at 1.8 GHz.

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Fig. 15 Measured (a) gain, PAE and EVM and (b) constellation of the PA for WCDMA modulated signals at 2.4 GHz.

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Fig. 14 Measured (a) gain, PAE and EVM and (b) constellation of the PA for WLAN 802.11n modulated signals at 2.4 GHz.

Table. 1 Comparison of CMOS Multi-band PAs

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