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A Reconfigurable Class-AB/F Power Amplifier for 0.1–4.2 GHz Multistandard Applications

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Abstract

In this paper, a reconfigurable multi-mode Class-AB/F power amplifier (PA) is proposed for 0.1–4.2 GHz multistandard applications. The PA operates in linear mode (class-AB) for variable-envelope modulated signals and switching mode (class-F) for constant-envelope modulated signals. The proposed linear mode PA design is suitable for multi-band LTE, IOT, WSN and multi-standard RF transmitter, while switching mode PA design can be used in multi-band IOT-LPWA and BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) RF transmitter. The proposed PA has a reconfigurable off-chip inter-stage and output matching networks over the specified frequency band, while the input stage is Complementary Current-Reuse common-gate with active shunt feedback configuration to achieve Ultra-Wideband (UWB) input matching. The proposed multi-mode PA is designed using a 130 nm CMOS process. Class-AB PA has a saturated output power of 23.5 dBm ± 1 dB over 0.1–4.2 GHz, a power-added efficiency (PAE) of 41%, a third-order intercept point (OIP3) of 17 dBm, and adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR) of − 29.3 dBc for LTE 15 MHz channel bandwidth. The maximum PAE of 62.1% under the class-F operation is achieved at output power of 24.5 dBm. The PA occupies 0.64 mm2 of chip area, while the estimated off-chip area is 13.3 mm2. The proposed PA consumes 164 mW, and 16 mW in class-AB and class-F, respectively.

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Data Availability

The data used to support the findings of this study are available in [2, 3].

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Acknowledgements

The author wants to extend her deepest gratitude to acknowledge the valuable comments of Editor-in-Chief and reviewers.

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The author received no specific funding for this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Microelectronics Department, Electronics Research Institutes (ERI), Giza, Egypt

    Marwa Mansour & Heba Shawkey

  2. Electronics and Communications Department, Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

    Marwa Mansour & Abdelhalim Zekry

  3. Electrical Engineering Department, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt

    Mohammed K. Ali

  4. Institute of Electronic Devices and Circuits, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany

    Mohammed K. Ali

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  1. Marwa Mansour
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  2. Abdelhalim Zekry
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  3. Mohammed K. Ali
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  4. Heba Shawkey
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Correspondence to Marwa Mansour.

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Mansour, M., Zekry, A., Ali, M.K. et al. A Reconfigurable Class-AB/F Power Amplifier for 0.1–4.2 GHz Multistandard Applications. Circuits Syst Signal Process 40, 1111–1126 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00034-020-01525-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00034-020-01525-4

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