A 2.4GHz class-E power amplifier with high power control range

One of the most power consuming blocks in a transceiver is power amplifier. Power dissipation of power amplifier plays a critical role in mobile transmitters whose power supplies have been limited. In this paper, a high-power power amplifier with a high power control range is presented. The stacked topology along with a combination of two intermediate nodes matching technique are adopted to adjust the amplitude of the power amplifier voltages and eliminate their phase misalignment. As a result, the supply voltage increases, and high output power is achieved. Advanced cascode power control technique is employed to control the output power of the power amplifier and obtain optimum DC bias with a linear dynamic range of 40dB. The power amplifier which is simulated using 0.13μm CMOS technology delivers maximum output power of 26dBm at 2.4GHz frequency.