The impacts of base bias resistor and LTE 16QAM signal bandwidth on high-efficiency linear SiGe power amplifier design

J. Tsay, J. Lopez, D. Y.C. Lie

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper investigates the design of a linear highly-efficient SiGe power amplifier (PA) where its linearity, power-added efficiency (PAE) and POUT are studied vs. different LTE 16QAM signal BW and a relatively small bias resistance Rbias is used to set up the base bias from a DC voltage source in lieu of using a large choke inductor. The PA is designed in a 0.35-μm SiGe BiCMOS technology with through-silicon via (TSV), passing the stringent LTE spectrum emission mask (SEM) at average linear POUT = 23.5/23.1/23.1 dBm with 48.0/45.2/44.6% PAE for LTE 5/10/20 MHz inputs at Rbias = 500 Ω. However, both linearity and PAE degrade when Rbias decreases to 330 Ω or increases to 1000 Ω. The adjacent channel leakage ratios ACLR1/ACLR2 exhibit over 10-21 dB degradation at Rbias = 330 Ω and 1000 Ω for LTE 20 MHz input at POUT = 23.1 dBm (P1dB = 22.3 dBm), while they are practically unchanged against Rbias for 5 MHz LTE input or at 6 dB POUT back-off at 17.1 dBm. Envelope-tracking (ET) is also used to improve PA's efficiency at back-off for Rbias = 500 Ω. The data suggests for SiGe PA design with TSV, a small bias Rbias may be used in lieu of a large inductor to save area, while its performance is dependent on the optimal bias Rbias value-too high or too low of Rbias will degrade its RF gain, stability and linearity for both CW and LTE modulated signal inputs.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2016 IEEE Bipolar/BiCMOS Circuits and Technology Meeting, BCTM 2016
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages52-55
Number of pages4
ISBN (Electronic)9781509004843
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 8 2016
Event2016 IEEE Bipolar/BiCMOS Circuits and Technology Meeting, BCTM 2016 - New Brunswick, United States
Duration: Sep 25 2016Sep 27 2016

Publication series

NameProceedings of the IEEE Bipolar/BiCMOS Circuits and Technology Meeting
Volume2016-November
ISSN (Print)1088-9299

Conference

Conference2016 IEEE Bipolar/BiCMOS Circuits and Technology Meeting, BCTM 2016
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityNew Brunswick
Period09/25/1609/27/16

Keywords

  • Adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR)
  • SiGe power amplifier (SiGe PA)
  • Through-Silicon via (TSV)
  • base bias resistor
  • long-term evolution (LTE)
  • thermal stability

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