Area-efficient fully integrated dual-band class-E/F power amplifier with switchable output power for a BPSK/OOK transmitter

This paper presents a novel dual-band class-E/F power amplifier (PA) with switchable output power. It is targeted to work in a BPSK/OOK transmitter in smart facility applications like an autarkic asset-tracking system based on small sensor nodes. The amplifier is fully-integrated and able to operate at both 434 MHz and 868 MHz without the need for additional inductors, making the design very area-efficient. The output power settings at 868 MHz are controllable between −1.79 dBm and −24.61 dBm at 4.96 mA and 1.43 mA current consumption, respectively. The whole circuit including all inductors and the matching network in front of the antenna consumes only 0.9 mm2 chip area and is fully integrated in a 180 nm CMOS process together with a VCO and a PLL.