ISBN 9783843936460

978-3-8439-3646-0, Reihe Elektrotechnik

Stephan Leuschner
CMOS Power Amplifiers for Single-Chip Radio Integration

224 Seiten, Dissertation Technische Universität Berlin (2017), Softcover, B5

Zusammenfassung / Abstract

The capabilities of modern Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) processes offer the potential of cost reduction in highly integrated systems while simultaneously enabling smallest size cellular modem architectures. This work investigates the integration of highly efficient Power Amplifiers (PAs) for single-chip radios and proposes solutions to overcome device ruggedness and performance limitations innate to modern nanometer scale CMOS technologies that has been preventing successful PA integration for cellular applications. Two central problems have to be solved:

PAs used in mobile phones have to handle relatively high voltage levels, as opposed to amplifiers used in connectivity (Bluetooth or Wireless Local Area Network) systems for example. Scaled nm-CMOS technologies do usually not offer special power devices which are able to cope with this requirement. This thesis work investigates innovative circuit topologies that enable high efficiency, high power output stages with high ruggedness using only the standard device offering available in such processes.

Moreover, standard CMOS processes with their lossy substrates and Back-End Of Line metal stacks, which are not optimized for high-Q passives for high power applications require the designer of PA circuits to carefully optimize integrated matching networks for minimized losses.