A 130-nm SOI CMOS reconfigurable multimode multiband power amplifier for 2G/3G/4G handset applications

This paper presents a reconfigurable multimode multiband power amplifier (MMPA) integrated in a 130nm SOI CMOS technology. In 2G mode, a saturated output power of 34.6/35.5dBm with a corresponding power added efficiency (PAE) of 61/53% was measured at 800/900MHz. In 3G/4G mode, a linear output power higher than 28/27dBm with a PAE higher than 34/33% while keeping adjacent channel leakage power ratio (ACLR) less than -36/-33dBc was measured with WCDMA and LTE signals respectively in the 700-900MHz frequency range. At 900MHz, up to 39/37% PAE is achieved with WCDMA/LTE signals. Up to 15% boost in PAE was achieved at 700MHz and 900MHz by using reconfigurable matching network, which validates the usefulness of the proposed reconfigurable architecture. The fabricated circuit occupies an area of 2.9mm2. To our best knowledge, this 2-stage reconfigurable single-core MMPA is the first reported SOI LDMOS MMPA addressing 2G/3G/4G modes and covering an extended frequency range from 700MHz to 900MHz.