Wideband LTE power amplifier with integrated novel analog pre-distorter linearizer for mobile wireless communications

PLoS One. 2014 Jul 17;9(7):e101862. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0101862. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

For the first time, a new circuit to extend the linear operation bandwidth of a LTE (Long Term Evolution) power amplifier, while delivering a high efficiency is implemented in less than 1 mm2 chip area. The 950 µm × 900 µm monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifier (PA) is fabricated in a 2 µm InGaP/GaAs process. An on-chip analog pre-distorter (APD) is designed to improve the linearity of the PA, up to 20 MHz channel bandwidth. Intended for 1.95 GHz Band 1 LTE application, the PA satisfies adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR) and error vector magnitude (EVM) specifications for a wide LTE channel bandwidth of 20 MHz at a linear output power of 28 dBm with corresponding power added efficiency (PAE) of 52.3%. With a respective input and output return loss of 30 dB and 14 dB, the PA's power gain is measured to be 32.5 dB while exhibiting an unconditional stability characteristic from DC up to 5 GHz. The proposed APD technique serves to be a good solution to improve linearity of a PA without sacrificing other critical performance metrics.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amplifiers, Electronic
  • Cell Phone / instrumentation*
  • Communication
  • Electric Power Supplies*
  • Equipment Design
  • Equipment Failure Analysis
  • Microwaves
  • Pancreatitis-Associated Proteins
  • Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted*

Grants and funding

This research is supported by the UM High Impact Research Grant UM.C/HIR/MOHE/ENG/51 from the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.