5~6GHz自适应线性化偏置的InGaP/GaAs HBT功率放大器

针对高质量无线局域网的传输需求,设计了一款工作在5~6 GHz的宽带磷化镓铟/砷化镓异质结双极型晶体管(InGaP/GaAs HBT)功率放大器芯片。针对HBT晶体管自热效应产生的非线性和电流不稳定现象,采用自适应线性化偏置技术,有效地解决了上述问题。针对射频系统的功耗问题,设计了改进的射频功率检测电路,以实现射频系统的自动增益控制,降低功耗。通过InGaP/GaAs HBT单片微波集成电路(MMIC)技术实现该功率放大器芯片。仿真结果表明,功放芯片的小信号增益达到32 dB;1 dB压缩点功率为28.5 dBm@5.5 GHz,功率附加效率PAE超过32%@5.5 GHz;输出功率为20 dBm时,IMD3低于-32 dBc。     

InGaP/GaAs HBT器件的制备及其特性

采用在发射区台面腐蚀时保留InGaP钝化层和去除InGaP钝化层的方法制备了两种InGaP/GaAs异质结双极晶体管(HBT)器件,研究了InGaP钝化层对HBT器件基区表面电流复合以及器件直流和射频微波特性的影响.对制备的两种器件进行了对比测试后得到:保留InGaP钝化层的HBT器件最大直流增益(β)为130,最高振荡频率(fmax)大于53 GHz,功率附加效率达到61％,线性功率增益为23 dB;而去除InGaP钝化层的器件最大β为50,fnax大于43 GHz,功率附加效率为57％,线性功率增益为18 dB.测试结果表明,InGaP钝化层作为一种耗尽型的钝化层能有效抑制基区表面电流的复合,提高器件直流增益,改善器件的射频微波特性.     

Electro-thermal stress effect on InGaP/GaAs heterojunction bipolar low-noise amplifier performance

This paper investigates the electro-thermal stress-induced performance degradation of a cascode low-noise amplifier built using advanced InGaP/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors. Changes in device characteristics due to the electro-thermal stress are examined experimentally. SPICE Gummel-Poon model parameters extracted from the pre- and post-stress HBT measurement data are then used in Cadence SpectreRF simulator to study the impact of the electro-thermal stress on the InGaP/GaAs LNA’s RF performance.     

一种温度不敏感的高线性功率放大器

设计了一种温度不灵敏的高线性度的射频功率放大器芯片,采用新颖的带温度反馈环路的有源片上自适应偏置电路,该电路降低了温度引起的放大器集电极直流电流分量的变化量,补偿了由温度变化而引起的性能偏差,进而有效提高了放大器的线性度。基于这个温度不灵敏的偏置结构采用InGaP/GaAs HBT工艺设计了一个工作在2110~2170 MHz频段的功率放大器。测试结果表明,该功放在工作频段内的增益大于等于35.3 dB;在中心频率2140 MHz处,1 dB功率压缩点大于33 dBm,功率附加效率在输出功率24.5 dBm时为18%;使用LTE_FDD调制信号,获得邻信道功率比为-47 dBc。在环境温度为-40℃、+25℃和+80℃条件下,功放的增益平坦度较好,增益变化量小于1.5 dB,输出级集电极电流基本不变,有效降低了功放对温度的敏感性。     

InGaP/GaAs HBT射频功率放大器在片温度补偿电路研究

本文针对无线通信应用的InGaP/GaAs HBT射频功率放大器,提出一种新型的在片温度补偿电路。该温度补偿电路由一个GaAs HBT和五个阻值大小不同的电阻组成,结构简单,可实现性强。通过调整偏置电路中参考电压的方法调节功率放大器静态偏置电流,有效地实现补偿功率放大器功率增益和输出功率随温度变化的特性,优化了射频功率放大器的热特性,性能随温度只有略微的退化。将该温度补偿电路置入一个无线通信应用的三级单片集成功率放大器,温度在-20℃到＋80℃范围内变化时,增益随温度变化的变化量从4.3dB提高到只有1.1dB。     

一种应用于InGaP/GaAs HBT射频功率放大器的在片温度补偿电路

A new on-chip temperature compensation circuit for a GaAs-based HBT RF amplifier applied to wireless communication is presented.The simple compensation circuit is composed of one GaAs HBT and five resistors with various values,which allow the power amplifier to achieve better thermal characteristics with a little degradation in performance.It effectively compensates for the temperature variation of the gain and the output power of the power amplifier by regulating the base quiescent bias current.The temp...     

An on-chip temperature compensation circuit for an InGaP/GaAs HBT RF power amplifier

A new on-chip temperature compensation circuit for a GaAs-based HBT RF amplifier applied to wireless communication is presented.The simple compensation circuit is composed of one GaAs HBT and five resistors with various values,which allow the power amplifier to achieve better thermal characteristics with a little degradation in performance.It effectively compensates for the temperature variation of the gain and the output power of the power amplifier by regulating the base quiescent bias current.The temperature compensation circuit is applied to a 3-stage integrated power amplifier for wireless communication applications,which results in an improvement in the gain variation from 4.0 to 1.1 dB in the temperature range between -20 and +80℃.     

Ultrahigh power efficiency operation of common-emitter andcommon-base HBT's at 10 GHz

The DC and RF characteristics of microwave power HBTs are described. Ultrahigh power-added efficiency is reported for AlGaAs-GaAs HBTs operating at 10 GHz in common-emitter (CE) and common-base (CB) modes. A record high 67.8% power-added efficiency with 11.6 dB associated gain was achieved with a CE HBT at a CW output power of 0.226 W, corresponding to a power density of 5.6 W/mm. With a CB HBT, 62.3% power-added efficiency with 11.85 dB gain and 0.385 W total CW power was demonstrated. Power saturation characteristics of CE and CB HBTs are compared. The importance of bias schemes is discussed. High-efficiency operation in near class B mode is described and compared with FET operation. An advantage of HBT over FET is the low leakage current during the off half cycle in class B operation. Stability conditions for CE and CB HBTs are discussed     

Integrated complementary HBT microwave push-pull and Darlingtonamplifiers with p-n-p active loads

The authors report the microwave results of complementary heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) amplifiers that integrate both n-p-n and p-n-p devices on the same chip using selective molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). An HBT wideband amplifier utilizing the Darlington configuration and implementing a p-n-p active load has a gain of 7.5 dB and a bandwidth from DC to 2.5 GHz. A complementary push-pull amplifier has a saturated output power of 7.5 dBm at 2.5 GHz     

Linearised HBT MMIC power amplifier with partially RF coupled active bias circuit for W-CDMA portable terminals applications

A highly linear MMIC power amplifier for wideband code-division multiple-access (W-CDMA) portable terminals has been devised and implemented with a new integrated on-chip lineariser. The proposed lineariser, consisting of an InGaP/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) active bias circuit partially coupled to RF input power together with a feedback capacitor, effectively improves gain compression with little insertion power loss and no additional die area. The optimised lineariser improves maximum output power (P1 dB) by 2 dB and adjacent channel leakage power ratio (ACLR) by 4 dB, and the implemented HBT MMIC power amplifier exhibits a P1 dB of 30 dBm, a power gain of 30 dB, a power added efficiency of 42% at the maximum output power under an operation voltage of 3.4 V, and an ACLR of -34 dBc at 27 dBm of output power.     

High Power SiGe X-Band (8～10GHz) Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors and Amplifiers

Limited by increased parasitics and thermal effects as device size increases,current commercial SiGe power HBTs are difficult to operate at X-band (8～12GHz) frequencies with adequate power added efficiencies at high power levels.We find that,by changing the heterostructure and doping profile of SiGe HBTs,their power gain can be significantly improved without resorting to substantial lateral scaling.Furthermore,employing a common-base configuration with a proper doping profile instead of a common-emitter configuration improves the power gain characteristics of SiGe HBTs,thus permitting these devices to be efficiently operated at X-band frequencies.In this paper,we report the results of SiGe power HBTs and MMIC power amplifiers operating at 8～10GHz.At 10GHz,a 22.5dBm (178mW) RF output power with a concurrent gain of 7.32dB is measured at the peak power-added efficiency of 20.0%,and a maximum RF output power of 24.0dBm (250mW) is achieved from a 20 emitter finger SiGe power HBT.The demonstration of a single-stage X-band medium-power linear MMIC power amplifier is also realized at 8GHz.Employing a 10-emitter finger SiGe HBT and on-chip input and output matching passive components,a linear gain of 9.7dB,a maximum output power of 23.4dBm,and peak power added efficiency of 16% are achieved from the power amplifier.The MMIC exhibits very low distortion with 3rd order intermodulation (IM) suppression C/I of -13dBc at an output power of 21.2dBm and over 20dBm 3rd order output intercept point (OIP3).     

High Power SiGe X-Band (8～10GHz) Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors and Amplifiers

Limited by increased parasitics and thermal effects as device size increases, current commercial SiGe power HBTs are difficult to operate at X-band (8～ 12GHz) frequencies with adequate power added efficiencies at high power levels. We find that, by changing the heterostructure and doping profile of SiGe HBTs, their power gain can be significantly improved without resorting to substantial lateral scaling. Furthermore, employing a common-base configuration with a proper doping profile instead of a common-emitter configuration improves the power gain characteristics of SiGe HBTs, thus permitting these devices to be efficiently operated at X-band frequencies. In this paper,we report the results of SiGe power HBTs and MMIC power amplifiers operating at 8～10GHz. At 10GHz,a 22.5dBm (178mW) RF output power with a concurrent gain of 7.32dB is measured at the peak power-added efficiency of 20.0%, and a maximum RF output power of 24.0dBm (250mW) is achieved from a 20 emitter finger SiGe power HBT. The demonstration of a single-stage X-band medium-power linear MMIC power amplifier is also realized at 8GHz. Employing a 10-emitter finger SiGe HBT and on-chip input and output matching passive components, a linear gain of 9.7dB,a maximum output power of 23.4dBm,and peak power added efficiency of 16% are achieved from the power amplifier. The MMIC exhibits very low distortion with 3rd order intermodulation (IM) suppression C/I of -13dBc at an output power of 21.2dBm and over 20dBm 3rd order output intercept point (OIP3).     

A Monolithic High-Efficiency 2.4-GHz 20-dBm SiGe BiCMOS Envelope-Tracking OFDM Power Amplifier

A monolithic SiGe BiCMOS envelope-tracking power amplifier (PA) is demonstrated for 802.11g OFDM applications at 2.4 GHz. The 4-mm² die includes a high-efficiency high-precision envelope amplifier and a two-stage SiGe HBT PA for RF amplification. Off-chip digital predistortion is employed to improve EVM performance. The two-stage amplifier exhibits 12-dB gain, <5% EVM, 20-dBm OFDM output power, and an overall efficiency (including the envelope amplifier) of 28%.     

High Power SiGe X-Band (8～10GHz) Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors and Amplifiers

Limited by increased parasitics and thermal effects as device size increases, current commercial SiGe power HBTs are difficult to operate at X-band (8～ 12GHz) frequencies with adequate power added efficiencies at high power levels. We find that, by changing the heterostructure and doping profile of SiGe HBTs, their power gain can be significantly improved without resorting to substantial lateral scaling. Furthermore, employing a common-base configuration with a proper doping profile instead of a common-emitter configuration improves the power gain characteristics of SiGe HBTs, thus permitting these devices to be efficiently operated at X-band frequencies. In this paper,we report the results of SiGe power HBTs and MMIC power amplifiers operating at 8～10GHz. At 10GHz,a 22.5dBm (178mW) RF output power with a concurrent gain of 7.32dB is measured at the peak power-added efficiency of 20.0%, and a maximum RF output power of 24.0dBm (250mW) is achieved from a 20 emitter finger SiGe power HBT. The demonstration of a single-stage X-band medium-power linear MMIC power amplifier is also realized at 8GHz. Employing a 10-emitter finger SiGe HBT and on-chip input and output matching passive components, a linear gain of 9.7dB,a maximum output power of 23.4dBm,and peak power added efficiency of 16% are achieved from the power amplifier. The MMIC exhibits very low distortion with 3rd order intermodulation (IM) suppression C/I of -13dBc at an output power of 21.2dBm and over 20dBm 3rd order output intercept point (OIP3).     

Analysis and Design of a Dynamic Predistorter for WCDMA Handset Power Amplifiers

This paper presents a dynamic predistorter (PD), which linearizes the dynamic AM-AM and AM-PM of a wideband code division multiple access handset power amplifier (PA). The dynamic PD allows an adjacent channel leakage power ratio (ACPR) improvement of 15.7 dB, which is superior to conventional PDs that linearize static AM-AM and AM-PM. The dynamic PD was designed using an HBT generating nonlinearity, a short circuit at the baseband (les4 MHz), and a load circuit for the HBT at the RF fundamental band (ap1.95 GHz). Volterra-series analysis was performed to understand the mechanism of the dynamic PD. The analysis revealed that the short circuit at the baseband enabled the dynamic PD generating third-order intermodulation distortion (IMD3) with opposite phase to the fundamental tone (i.e., antiphase IMD3). The antiphase IMD3 allows dynamic gain compression, which linearizes the dynamic gain expansion of a PA with low quiescent current. The analysis also revealed that the IMD3 amplitude of the dynamic PD can be adjusted by load impedance at the RF fundamental band, which enables the gradient of dynamic AM-AM and AM-PM to be optimized to linearize the PA. The fabricated two-stage InGaP/GaAs HBT PA module with the dynamic PD exhibited an ACPR of -40 dBc and a power-added efficiency of 50% at an average output power of 26.8 dBm with a quiescent current of 20 mA     

5～12 GHz新型复合管宽带功率放大器设计

利用一种新型HBT复合晶体管结构设计了一款宽带功率放大器,有效抑制了HBT的大信号Kink效应。采用微波仿真软件AWR对电路结构进行了优化和仿真,结果显示,在5～12 GHz频带内,复合晶体管结构的输出阻抗值更稳定,带宽得到有效扩展,最高增益达到11 dB,带内波动<0.5 dB,在9 GHz工作频率时,其1 dB压缩点处的输出功率为26 dBm。     

GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor device and IC technology forhigh-performance analog and microwave applications

GaAs-AlGaAs n-p-n heterojunction bipolar transistor (GaAs HBT) technology and its application to analog and microwave functions for high-performance military and commercial systems are discussed. In many applications the GaAs HBT offers key advantages over the alternative advanced silicon bipolar and III-V compound field-effect-transistor (FET) approaches. TRW's GaAs HBT device and IC fabrication process, basic HBT DC and RF performance, examples of applications, and technology qualification work are presented and serve as a basis for addressing general capability issues. A related 3-μm emitter-up, self-aligned HBT IC process provides excellent DC and RF performance, with simultaneous gain-bandwidth product, f_T, and maximum frequency of oscillation, f_max, of approximately 20-40 GHz and DC current gain β≈50-100 at useful collector current densities ≈3-10 kA/cm², early voltage ≈500-1000 V, and MSI-LSI integration levels. These capabilities facilitate versatile DC-20-GHz analog/microwave as well as 3-6 Gb/s digital applications, 2-3 G sample/s A/D conversion, and single-chip multifunctions with producibility     

SiGe MMIC power amplifier with on-chip lineariser for X-band applications

An X-band linear power amplifier with an on-chip lineariser is developed using a 0.25 mum SiGe HBT BiCMOS process. The proposed on-chip lineariser improves the 1 dB compression to as much as 3.4 dB with no additional DC power consumption. Under a 3.3 V DC power supply, the single-stage cascode amplifier shows a measured small-signal gain of 12.2 dB and output PI dB of 20.8 dBm, with power added efficiency of 27.4% at the operating frequency range 8.5-10.5 GHz.     

基于SiGe工艺的高增益射频功率放大器

基于0.13μm SiGe HBT工艺,设计应用于无线局域网(WLAN)802.11b/g频段范围内的高增益射频功率放大器.该功放工作在AB类,由三级放大电路级联构成,并带有温度补偿和线性化的偏置电路.仿真结果显示:功率增益高达30dB,1dB压缩点输出功率为24dBm,电路的S参数S11在1.5～4GHz大的频率范围内均小于-17dB,S21大于30dB,输出匹配S22小于-10dB,S12小于-90dB.最高效率可达42.7%,1dB压缩点效率为37%.     

The class BD high-efficiency RF power amplifier

Class B and class D operation of the same RF power amplifier circuit is not normally possible because of constraints imposed by the tuned output circuit and DC power input circuit. The use of square-wave drive in a current switching class D RF amplifier circuit allows the amplifier to move gradually from current source to current switch operation. This amplifier, called class BD, has a linear transfer characteristic (drive envelope to output envelope) and an efficiency 1.23 times that of a class B RF amplifier with the same peak output. The addition of a resistive AC current path to ground in the DC power input circuit of the class BD RF amplifier allows operation with sinewave driving waveforms. While this lowers the efficiency at the peak output, it can raise it at lower outputs, making possible a factor of 1.57 improvement in efficiency in the amplification of signals with large peak-to-average ratios. The class BD RF amplifier may therefore be used as a broad-band replacement for a Doherty-type amplifier.