Patent · US Active

Stacked PA power control

US9960737B1 · kind B1 · utility

37Cited by
117References
30Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateMar 6, 2017
Grant dateMay 1, 2018
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 6, 2037

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH03F2200/61
  • WIPO fieldBasic communication processes
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Systems, methods and apparatus for efficient power control of an RF amplifier for amplification of a constant envelope RF signal are described. A reduction in a size of a pass device of an LDO regulator is obtained by removing the pass device of the LDO regulator from a main current conduction path of the RF amplifier. Power control is provided by varying one or more gate voltages to cascoded transistors of a transistor stack of the RF amplifier according to a power control voltage. Various configurations for controlling the gate voltages are presented by way of a smaller size LDO regulator or by completely removing the LDO regulator. In a case where a supply voltage to the transistor stack varies, such as in a case of a battery, a compensation circuit is used to adjust the power control voltage in view of a variation of the supply voltage, and therefore null a corresponding drift in output power of the RF amplifier.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.