A 3.3V, 1W GaAs One-Chip Power Amplifier MMIC for Cellular Phones

A 900-MHz-band 1W one-chip power amplifier MMIC, which operates at the low-supply voltage of 3.3 V and includes all bias and output matching circuits, has been developed for cellular phones. It is capable of delivering output power over 1.1 W with a power added efficiency of 43% at 3.3 V. With its extremely small chip size of 2.5 mm × 3.48 mm, it is less than one fifth the size of previously reported multi-chip ICs (MCICs). This new MMIC, the characteristics of which are compared with those of the existing MCICs, can be expected to contribute to the realization of smaller, lighter-weight cellular phones.