Improved UMTS base station transmitter featuring high efficiency and integrated analogue parts

In this work, a transmitter for the application in UMTS base stations is presented. It is designed to process up to four neighbouring channels simultaneously. Compared to the state-of-the-art, it features a high effciency in the conversion of the supply power to the RF output power. For the analogue part of the transmitter, ASICs have been designed and fabricated using SiGe technology. In simulations using Agilent ADS, the functionality of the transmitter concept could be proved. Laboratory measurements have been done using a set-up consisting of evaluation hoards. With a power amplifier chain containing the latest LDMOS transistor generation, an RF output power of 40 W could he generated with a power amplifier effciency of30 % leading to a module effciency of 20 % while keeping the 3GPP ACLR specification.