A 20W and broadband two-stage LDMOS power amplifier with high-Q Cu integrated passive device for multi-band and multi-standard applications

摘要

This paper presents a 20W and broadband power amplifier using high-Q Cu integrated passive device (IPD). Dual-path and two-stage broadband RFIC PA using the latest LDMOS technology covers from 1.5 GHz to 2.5 GHz frequency band and performs exceptionally well in multi-mode and multi-band operations. The measured power gain and drain efficiency in class-AB mode achieved more than 30 dB and between 18% and 22% from 1.8 GHz to 2.5 GHz at 10 dB power back-off, respectively. In order to validate the multi-band operation, the PA is linearized as the final stage of the low power line-up by the NXP DFE DPD system under 145 MHz 3C LTE signals and has more than 27% efficiency and -57 dBc corrected ACLR at the average output power of 36 dBm (8 dB back-off). To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first demonstration of broadband high power amplifier with excellent wideband DPD linearization and RF performance.