A PAPR-Aware Dual-Mode Subgigahertz CMOS Power Amplifier for Short-Range Wireless Communication

A peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR)-aware dual-mode power amplifier (PA) for short-range wireless communication in the subgigahertz band is proposed in this brief. By carefully choosing the bias, the dual-mode PA achieves the measured output P1 dB (OP1 dB) of 13.6 dBm with a PAE of 25.5%. Furthermore, a dynamic load modulation network is utilized to optimize the PA's efficiency at back-off power. A power-control loop is proposed to detect the input signal PAPR in real time and flexibly reconfigure the PA's operation modes. With these proposed techniques, the PAE has been improved by ×2.61 at 7-dB back-off power. The measurement shows that the subgigahertz-band PA archives an adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR1) of -37.3 dBc and an average/peak error vector magnitude of -30.4 dB/-20.5 dB at 8.9-dBm output power for ~5-dB-PAPR 16-quadrature-magnitude-modulation LTE signals with 5-MHz bandwidth with the power control loop enabled. The PAPR-aware dual-mode PA, powered by a 2-V supply, occupies a 2.52-mm
²
die area in a 180-nm CMOS.