A New Power Management IC Architecture for Envelope Tracking Power Amplifier

• Published in: IEEE transactions on microwave theory and techniques Vol. 59; no. 7; pp. 1796 - 1802
• Main Authors: CHOI, Jinsung, KIM, Dongsu, KANG, Daehyun, KIM, Bumman
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.07.2011; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: 3GPP LTE; Amplifiers; Applied sciences; Architecture; Batteries; Battery; Circuit properties; CMOS analog integrated circuits; Converters; DC-DC power conversion; Design. Technologies. Operation analysis. Testing; Electric batteries; Electric potential; Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits; Electronic circuits; Electronic equipment and fabrication. Passive components, printed wiring boards, connectics; Electronics; envelope tracking (ET); Envelopes; Exact sciences and technology; Integrated circuits; Modulation; Modulators; power amplifiers (PAs); Power generation; Power management; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Signal convertors; Switches; Tracking; transmitters; Voltage; Voltage control; Voltage measurement; wireless communication; Performance evaluation; Power converter; Output power; CMOS analog integrated circuits; Power gain; Linear amplification; Power supply; Switching convertors; envelope tracking (ET); Optimization; Hybrid system; wireless communication; Wide band; power amplifiers (PAs); Electric power consumption; DC―DC power conversion; Mode conversion; Mobile radiocommunication; 3GPP LTE; Modulator; Target tracking; Up converter; transmitters; Maximin problem; Secondary cell; Power electronics; Step down convertor; Class AB; Power amplifier; Power integrated circuits
• ISSN: 0018-9480; 1557-9670
• DOI: 10.1109/TMTT.2011.2134108

A new supply modulator architecture for robust performance against the battery voltage variation is presented. The resulting modulator is an optimized power management integrated circuit (PMIC) for an envelope tracking (ET) power amplifier (PA). The basic topology of the PMIC is based on a hybrid switching amplifier combining a wideband class-AB buffered linear amplifier and a highly efficient switching-mode buck converter in a master-slave configuration. The additional boost converter regulates the supply voltage of the linear amplifier, while the supply of the buck converter is directly coupled to the battery. The proposed supply modulator achieves max/min efficiencies of 76.8/69.3% over the entire battery voltage range. The ET PA is operated at 4.5 V, providing higher output power, efficiency, and gain than at nominal 3.5-V design. The robust performance of the proposed PMIC is demonstrated.