PA cell, PA module, wireless communication unit, RF transmitter architecture and method therefor

摘要

A power amplifier cell includes a first input arranged to receive an in-phase control signal, a second input arranged to receive a quadrature control signal, an input stage arranged to output a drive signal based at least partly on the received in-phase and quadrature control signals, and an output stage arranged to receive at an input thereof the drive signal output by the input stage, and to generate an output signal for the power amplifier cell in response to the received drive signal.

主权项

1. A power amplifier module comprising an array of power amplifier cells, wherein each power amplifier cell comprises:
a first input arranged to receive an in-phase control signal; a second input arranged to receive a quadrature control signal; an input stage arranged to output a drive signal based at least partly on the received in-phase and quadrature control signals; an output stage arranged to receive at an input thereof the drive signal output by the input stage, and to generate an output signal for the power amplifier cell in response to the received drive signal; wherein each bit within an N-bit in-phase control word is paired with a complementary bit within an N-bit quadrature control word such that bit T within the N-bit in-phase control word is paired with bit ‘N−1−i’ within the N-bit quadrature control word, and each power amplifier cell is controlled by a pair of complementary bits from the in-phase control word and the quadrature control word; and the in-phase control signal for each power amplifier cell is obtained according to an in-phase carrier frequency signal and the in-phase bit of the respective pair of complementary bits, and the quadrature control signal for each power amplifier cell is obtained according to a quadrature carrier frequency signal and the quadrature bit of the respective pair of complementary bits.