Design of High-Linearity Wideband Power Amplifiers

The power amplifier is usually the last active element in an RF transmitter front-end, and usually one of the most critical blocks. It is the main contributor to the front-end power consumption, and its linearity determines the overall performance of the communication link. This chapter will discuss considerations for the design of wideband mmW PAs, applying the concepts to the design of an E-band power amplifier for multi-Gbps spectrally efficient communication links. First, the most representative performance metrics will be described, and different design approaches and architectures for mmW PAs will be reviewed. Then, the design of the Eband PA will be presented, validating its performance with measurement results.

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