Si-LDMOS high power amplifier RFIC with integrated analogue pre-distorter

A simple approach to improve the linearity of silicon (Si) laterally diffused metal oxide semiconductor (LDMOS) base-station power amplifiers (PAs) by integrating an analogue pre-distorter (APD) is presented. The Si-LDMOS APD utilises an unequal power divider/combiner and Si-LDMOS field effect transistors to provide inverse distortion characteristics. Measurement shows that this method compensates for the nonlinear gain and phase compressions of the PA, thereby resulting in a 1.5 dB increase of the 1 dB compressed output power (P_-1dB).