A Silicon Germanium, High Efficiency Power Amplifier Chipset for GSM/DCS-PCS/WCDMA Handset Applications

Author

Pusl, Joe ; Sridharan, Srikanth ; Helms, David ; Antognetti, Philip ; Doherty, Mark

Author_Institution

IBM San Diego RFIC Design Center, 527 Encinitas Blvd, Encinitas, CA 92024 USA

fYear

2001

fDate

24-26 Sept. 2001

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

A power amplifier chipset for GSM and WCDMA mobile handset PAs has been designed and fabricated in the IBM Silicon Germanium BiCMOS 5AM process. This 3-chip set offers competitive performance and reliability for integrated GSM/DCS-PCS/WCDMA applications. The constant envelope (GSM and DCS-PCS) power amplifier designs are optimized for efficiency under pulsed GMSK conditions, achieving 55% and 45% PAE at 900 and 1880 MHz, respectively, at 3.4 V. The linear (WCDMA) amplifier performance has been optimized for continuous HPSK operation with - 36dBc ACPR maximum with up to 27 dBm output power. This family of PAs relies on two biasing architectures to address pulsed and linear operation by effectively utilizing the broad library of devices available in the BiCMOS process. Power device design and thermal conductivity of the silicon substrate are such that reliable operating temperatures during multi-slot GSM and WCDMA operation are assured. ICs are assembled in low-cost, 50-ohm matched modules or 4mm leadless (QFN) packages.

Keywords

BiCMOS integrated circuits; GSM; Germanium silicon alloys; High power amplifiers; Multiaccess communication; Operational amplifiers; Power amplifiers; Pulse amplifiers; Silicon germanium; Telephone sets;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Conference, 2001. 31st European

Conference_Location

London, England

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/EUMA.2001.339190

Filename

4140258