This paper describes the design and measurements of two-gain-mode MMIC power amplifier modules (PAMs) for Band 1 and Band 5 WCDMA data communications. The PAMs are based on the two-stage single-chain amplifier topology with an L-shaped FET step attenuator (ATT) placed at the interstage, featuring not only high-efficiency operation but also both a small phase discontinuity and a small input return loss variation between the two gain modes: a high-gain mode (0-dB thru state for the ATT) and a low-gain mode (14-dB attenuation state for the ATT). The PAMs are assembled on a 3 mm × 3 mm FR-4 laminate together with several surface mount devices, and a high-directivity, 20-dB bilayer-type directional coupler is integrated on the laminate for accurate forward-power monitoring even under a 2.5:1-VSWR load mismatching condition. To validate the design and analysis for the PAMs using the L-shaped ATT, two PAM products — a Band 1 PAM and a Band 5 PAM — were fabricated using our in-house GaAs-BiFET process. The main RF measurements under the condition of a WCDMA (R99) modulated signal and a 3.4-V supply voltage are as follows. The Band 1 PAM can deliver a power-added efficiency (PAE) as high as 46% at an output power (Pout) of 28.25 dBm while maintaining a ±5-MHz-offset adjacent channel power ratio (ACLR1) of approximately -40 dBc or less and a small phase discontinuity of less than 5°. The Band 5 PAM can also deliver a high PAE of 46% at the same Pout and ACLR1 levels with small phase discontinuity of less than 4°. This small discontinuity is due to the phase-shift compensation capacitance embedded in the ATT. The measured input return loss is well maintained at better than 10 dB at the two modes. In addition, careful coupler design achieves a small detection error of less than 0.5 dB even under a 2.5:1-VSWR load mismatching condition.

This paper describes, for the first time, an experimental study on the layout design considerations of GaAs HBT MMIC switchable-amplifier-chain-based power amplifiers (SWPAs) for CDMA handsets. The transient response of the quiescent current and output power (Pout) in GaAs HBT power amplifiers that consist of a main chain and a sub-chain is often affected by a thermal coupling between power stages and their bias circuits in the same chain or a thermal coupling between power stages and/or their bias circuits in different chains. In particular, excessively strong thermal coupling inside the MMIC SWPA causes failure in 3GPP-compliant inner loop power control tests. An experimental study reveals that both the preheating in the main/sub-chains and appropriate thermal coupling inside the main chain are very effective in reducing the turn-on delay for the two-parallel-amplifier-chain topology; for example, i) the sub-power stage is arranged near the main power stage, ii) the sub-driver stage is placed near the main driver stage and iii) the main driver bias circuit is placed near the main power stage and the sub-power stage. The SWPA operating in Band 9 (1749.9 to 1784.9 MHz), which was designed and fabricated from the foregoing considerations, shows a remarkable improvement in the Pout turn-on delay: a reduced power level error of 0.74 dB from turn-off to turn-on in the sub-amplifier chain and a reduced power level error of over 0.30 dB from turn-off to turn-on in the main amplifier chain. The main RF power measurements conducted with a 3.4-V supply voltage and a Band 9 WCDMA HSDPA modulated signal are as follows. The SWPA delivers a Pout of 28.5 dBm, a power gain (Gp) of 28 dB, and a PAE of 39% while restricting the ACLR1 to less than -40 dBc in the main amplifier chain. In the sub-amplifier chain, 17 dBm of Pout, 23.5 dB of Gp, and 27% of PAE are obtained at the same ACLR1 level.

This paper describes, for the first time, the circuit design considerations and measurements of core building blocks that support a 1.9-GHz-band (Band I) BiFET MMIC three-power-mode power amplifier (PA) for WCDMA handset applications. The blocks are a reference voltage (Vref) generator, a control logic circuit, and ESD protection circuits. Our proposed Vref-generator, based on a current-mirror topology, can successfully suppress Vref variation against threshold voltage (Vth) dispersion in the FET as well as current gain dispersion in the HBT. On-wafer measurements over several wafer lots show that the standard deviation of Vref is as small as 18 mV over a Vth dispersion range from -0.6 V to -1.0 V. As a result, the measured quiescent current dispersion in the HPM is also suppressed to less than 5.4 mA, despite the fact that the average quiescent current is relatively high, at 81.3 mA. Several simulations reveal that small decoupling capacitances of approximately 1 pF added to the gate control lines of RF switch FETs ensure stable operation of the control logic even if an undesired RF coupling is present between an RF signal path and the gate lines. An empirical and useful design approach for ESD protection using HBT base-collector diodes allows easy and precise estimation of the HBM ESD robustness. With the above building blocks, a 3 mm × 3 mm PA was designed and fabricated by an in-house BiFET process. Measurements conducted under the conditions of a 3.4-V supply voltage and a 1.95-GHz WCDMA modulated signal are as follows. The PA delivers a 28.3-dBm output power (Pout), a 28.2-dB power gain (Gp), and 40% PAE while restricting the ACLR1 to less than -42 dBc in the HPM. In the MPM, 17.4 dBm of Pout, 15.9 dB of Gp, and 25.3% of PAE are obtained, while in the LPM, the PA delivers 7 dBm of Pout, 11.7 dB of Gp, and 13.9% of PAE. The HBM ESD robustness is 2 kV.

This paper describes the circuit design and measurement results of a new GaAs-HBT RF power detector proposed for use in WiMAX and wireless LAN transmitter applications. The detector, which is based on a simple current-mirror topology, occupies a small die area. It is, therefore, not only easy to implement together with a GaAs-HBT power amplifier, but can also offer approximately logarithmic (linear-in-dB) characteristics. Because it can also be driven with small voltage amplitudes, it is suitable for base-terminal monitoring at an HBT power stage. When the detector is used as a base-terminal power monitor, an appropriate base resistance added to the detection HBT effectively suppresses frequency dispersion of the detected voltage characteristics. Measurements of a prototype detector incorporated into a single-stage HBT power amplifier fabricated on the same die are as follows. The detector is capable of delivering a detected voltage of 0.35-2.5 V with a slope of less than 0.17 V/dB over a 4-to-24-dBm output power range at 3.5 GHz while drawing a current of less than 1.8 mA from a 2.85-V supply. While satisfying a log conformance error of less than 1 dB over an amplifier output power range from 4 dBm to 24 dBm, it can also suppress the detected power dispersion within 0.18 dB at approximately 15 dBm of output power over a 3.1-3.9-GHz-wide frequency range. This dispersion value is approximately one-tenth that of a conventional collector-terminal-monitor-type diode detector.

This paper describes 0.8-/1.5-GHz-band GaAs-HBT power amplifier modules with a newly designed analog bias control scheme. This scheme has two features. One is to achieve approximately linear quiescent current control using not a BiFET process but only the usual HBT process. The other is to help improve linearity under reduced supply voltage and lower quiescent current operation. The following two key techniques are incorporated into the bias scheme. The first is to employ two different kinds of bias circuits: emitter follower bias and current injection bias. The second is the unique current injection bias block, based on the successful combination of an input buffer with an emitter resistance load and a current mirror. These techniques allow quiescent current control that is almost proportional to an externally applied analog control voltage. To confirm the effectiveness of the scheme, 0.8-GHz-band and 1.5-GHz-band power amplifier modules were designed and fabricated using the usual HBT process. Measurements conducted under the conditions of a 3.4V supply voltage and an HSDPA WCDMA modulated signal are as follows. The 0.8-GHz-band amplifier can deliver a 28-dBm output power (Pout), a 28.4-dB power gain (Gp), and 42% PAE while restricting the ACLR to less than -40dBc. For the 1.5-GHz-band amplifier, 28dBm of Pout, 29dB of Gp, and 41% of PAE are obtained with the same ACLR levels. The measurements also confirm that the quiescent current for the second stage in the amplifiers is approximately linearly changed from 14mA to 58mA over a control voltage ranging from 1.1V to 2.2V. In addition, our measured DG.09-based current dissipation with both supply voltage and analog bias controls is as low as 16.9mA, showing that the analog bias control scheme enables an average current reduction of more than 20%, as compared to a conventional supply voltage and two-step quiescent current control.

This paper describes circuit design and measurement results of a newly proposed GaAs-HBT step-gain amplifier configuration and its application to a 3.3-3.6 GHz WiMAX power amplifier module for use in customer premises equipment. The step-gain amplifier implemented using only a usual HBT process is based on a current-mirror-based, base-collector diode switches and a passive attenuator core for the purpose of bypassing a power-gain stage. The stage allows an individual design approach in terms of gain and attenuation levels as well as large operating current reduction in the attenuation state. To confirm the effectiveness of the proposed step-gain amplifier, a prototype of the amplifier was designed and fabricated, and then a WiMAX power amplifier module was also designed and fabricated as an application example of the proposed configuration to an amplifier product. Measurements are as follows. For a 3.5-V power supply and a 3.5-GHz non-modulated signal, the step-gain amplifier delivers 23.7 dBm of 1-dB gain compressed output power and 10.7 dB of linear gain in the amplification state. In the attenuation state, the amplifier exhibits 21 dBm of 1-dB gain expanded input power, -9.7 dB of gain, and 15 mA of current dissipation while keeping the gain stage switched off and maintaining input and output return loss of less than -10 dB at a 3.5-GHz band. The WiMAX amplifier operating with a 5-V supply voltage and a 64-QAM modulated signal is capable of delivering a 28.5-dBm linear output power, a 37-39 dB gain, and 15% of PAE over a wide frequency range from 3.3 to 3.6 GHz in the high-gain state while keeping error vector magnitude as low as 2.5%. This amplifier, which incorporates the proposed step-gain configuration into its interstage, enables a 24-dB gain reduction and a 45-mA large quiescent current reduction in the low-gain state.

This paper describes two different types of GaAs-HBT compatible, base-collector diode 0/20-dB step attenuators--diode-linearizer type and harmonics-trap type--for 3.5-GHz-band wireless applications. The two attenuators use an AC-coupled, stacked type diode switch topology featuring high power handling capability with low bias current operation. Compared to a conventional diode switch topology, this topology can improve the capability of more than 6 dB with the same bias current. In addition, successful incorporation of a shunt diode linearizer and second- and third-harmonic traps into the attenuators gives the IM3 distortion improvement of more than 7 dB in the high power ranging from 16 dBm to 18 dBm even in the 20-dB attenuation mode when IM3 distortion levels are basically easy to degrade. Measurement results show that both the attenuators are capable of delivering power handling capability (P0.2 dB) of more than 18 dBm with IM3 levels of less than -35 dBc at an 18-dBm input power while drawing low bias currents of 3.8 mA and 6.8 mA in the thru and attenuation modes from 0/5-V complementary supplies. Measured insertion losses of the linearizer-type and harmonics-trap type attenuators in the thru mode are as low as 1.4 dB and 2.5 dB, respectively.