A Maximum Efficiency-86% Hybrid Power Modulator for 5G New Radio(NR) Applications

Abstract

A hybrid power modulator is presented for the radio frequency (RF) power amplifiers of 5th generation mobile communication technology (5G) new radio (NR) applications. A hybrid power modulator utilizing a two-level switching converter and a broadband and high-efficiency linear amplifier is presented. A further improvement in the efficiency of the circuit is achieved by using an optimized supply voltage of the two-level switching converters of 4.5 V. In this way, the overall efficiency is improved by more than 5% compared to using a 5 V supply voltage. The linear amplifier consists of four stages. In order to improve bandwidth and circuit stability, a compensation circuit is added to the linear amplifier that eliminates the poles of the main amplifier by introducing additional zeros, indirectly pushing the pole distribution out of the bandwidth. Using this approach, the linear amplifier achieves a 3-dB bandwidth of 180 MHz and an efficiency of 51%. The hybrid power modulator achieves a maximum output power of 2.4 W and an efficiency of 86% when tracking a 100 MHz 5G-NR signal under a 4 Ω load in a 180 nm CMOS package.