CIRCUITS AND METHODS FOR POWER AMPLIFICATION WITH EXTENDED HIGH EFFICIENCY

摘要

The present disclosure includes circuits and methods for power amplifiers. In one embodiment, a main and peaking amplifier receive dynamic power supply voltages to operate an RF power amplifier in a high efficiency range for a particular output voltage. The power supply voltages may be changed based on an output voltage so that the power amplifier operates within a high efficiency plateau. In one embodiment, different discrete power supply voltage levels are used for different output voltage ranges. In another embodiment, a continuous time varying power supply voltage is provided as the power supply voltage. A dynamic supply voltage may be generated having a lower frequency than a signal path of the power amplifier.

主权项

1. A circuit comprising:
a power amplifier comprising a main amplifier stage and a peaking amplifier stage, wherein an output of the peaking amplifier stage is coupled to an output of the main amplifier stage through an impedance inverter circuit, wherein the output of the peaking amplifier stage is coupled to an output terminal of the power amplifier, the power amplifier producing an output voltage on the output terminal, wherein the main amplifier stage comprises a first power supply terminal and the peaking amplifier stage comprises a second power supply terminal; a power supply circuit coupled to the first power supply terminal and the second power supply terminal to provide one or more dynamic supply voltages to the main amplifier stage and to the peaking amplifier stage, wherein the power supply circuit adjusts the one or more dynamic supply voltages so that a difference between at least one of the one or more dynamic supply voltages and the power amplifier output voltage is maintained within a predetermined range.