title: Wideband LTE power amplifier with integrated novel analog pre-distorter linearizer for mobile wireless communications.
abstract: For the first time, a new circuit to extend the linear operation bandwidth of a LTE (Long Term Evolution) power amplifier, while delivering a high efficiency is implemented in less than 1 mm2 chip area. The 950 µm × 900 µm monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifier (PA) is fabricated in a 2 µm InGaP/GaAs process. An on-chip analog pre-distorter (APD) is designed to improve the linearity of the PA, up to 20 MHz channel bandwidth. Intended for 1.95 GHz Band 1 LTE application, the PA satisfies adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR) and error vector magnitude (EVM) specifications for a wide LTE channel bandwidth of 20 MHz at a linear output power of 28 dBm with corresponding power added efficiency (PAE) of 52.3%. With a respective input and output return loss of 30 dB and 14 dB, the PA's power gain is measured to be 32.5 dB while exhibiting an unconditional stability characteristic from DC up to 5 GHz. The proposed APD technique serves to be a good solution to improve linearity of a PA without sacrificing other critical performance metrics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Eswaran
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Uthirajoo
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Harikrishnan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ramiah
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Jeevan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kanesan
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Ahmed Wasif
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Reza
mesh_terms: D000669:Amplifiers, Electronic; D040421:Cell Phone / Q000295:instrumentation*; D003142:Communication; D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D008872:Microwaves; D000073718:Pancreatitis-Associated Proteins; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted