DESIGN OF CMOS POWER AMPLIER

Khoo Kian HUB

Bachelor of Engineering with Honours (Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering)

2011

UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARA W AK

BORANG PENGESAHAN STATUS T ESIS

Judul: DESIGN OF CMOS POWER AMPLIfi E R

SESI PENGAJIAN: 201012011

Saya KHOO KlAN H[lA

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APPROVAL SHEET

Final Year Project below:

Title : Design of CMOS Power Amplifi er

Author : Khoo Kian Hua

Matric No. 187 16

Hereby read and approved by:

13 A. I. /01/

En. Ng U~ng Yew Date Supervisor

DESIGN OF CMOS POWER AMPLIFIER

KHOO KlAN HUA

,

This thesis is submitted to

Facult y o f Engineering, Uni versiti Malaysia Sarawak

in pal1ial fulfillment 0 f the requirements

for the degree of Bachelor o f Engineering with Honours

(Electronic and Telecollununica tio n Engineering)

2010/2011

To my beloved parents, family members and fiiends.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

•

I would like to express my sincere thanks to every indi vidual that has o ffered

the ir he lp and guidance to me during the entirety of the project.

I am keen to show my utmost gratitude and apprecia tio n to my superviso r, Mr

Ng Liang Yew for his excellence patient , invaluable advice and continue suppo rt for

this Final Year Project. Without his encouragement and guidance, I would not have

completed this projec t.

I am also thankful to my colleagues in the Universiti Malays ia Sarawak for

their support , advice and assistance.

Last but not least, my heartfe lt thanks to my fam il y members for their

enco uragement and support during the process of completing this project.

II

ABSTRAK

I

Penguat kuasa mcrupakan penghantar tcrima wayarlcs komponen yang penting

dalam sistcm komunikasi. Penguat kuasa menggunakan 5'ekuensi radio untuk

penghantaran data antara infrastruktur wayarless bergerak. Teknologi CMOS

digunakan dalam penguat kuasa untuk mereka sistem integrasi pada chip. Ini

disebabkan CMOS meningkatkan operasi keIajuan melalui pengkecilan saiz. Sebagai

komponen yang mengguna kuasa yang tinggi di hahagian depan frekuensi radio,

mercka penguat kuasa yang mempunyai prestasi yang tinggi merupakan salah satu

cab3I'an dalam penghantar terima wayaries. Penguat kuasa prestasi bolch ditentukan

dari segi keJinearan isyarat, kuasa keluaran dan gandaan kuasa. Penguat kuasa kelas

AB telah dieadangkan untuk meningkatkan prestasi penguat kuasa. Alat simulasi

yang digunakan dalam projek ini ialah LTspice IV. Pengu81 kuasa beroperasi daJam

frekuensi 3 GHz dengan kuasa masukan 8 dBm dan voltan bekalan 3 volt. Projek ini

adalah untuk mereka eipta sebuah penguat kuasa RF CMOS bagi komunikasi

bergerak.

llf

ABSTRACT

Power amplifier (PA) is an important component of wireless transceiver in

communicat ions system. PAuses radio frequency for transmissio n between mobile

w ireless infrastructures. Complementary Metal Oxide Semico nducto r (CMOS)

techno logy is being used for design o f system integration on chip in PA. This is due

to its improved operation speed tlu·ough downs izing. Being the most power hungry

component o f radio frequency (RF) front end , des igning a high perio rmance power

amplifie r is one of the most challenging parts in the w ire less transce iver. T he

perfo rmance o f power amp lifie r can be detennined in te rms of signal linea rity, output

power, and power gain . A proposed PA is a sing le-ended class AB cascode CMOS

power amplitier. The simulat ion too l used in this project is LTsp ice IY . The power

amplifier is operated at 3 GHz with an input power of 8 dBm and a supply vo ltage of

3 volt This project is to design a RF CMOS power ampl ifier for mobil e

communications.

IV

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Con ten ts

Acknow ledgement

Abstrak

Abstract

Tab le of Contents

List of Ta bles

List 0 f Figures

List 0 f Abbreviations

C hapter 1

Chapter 2

Introduction

I . I CMOS Techno logy

1.2 Communica tion System

1.2. I Mob ile Communication Syste m

1.3 Radio Frequency (RF) Power Amplifier (PA) on

Mobile Communication System

14 Problem Statement

1.5 Objectives

1.6 Scope of the project

1.7 Project Outlines

Literature Review

2. 1 Power Amplifier (PA) Fundamentals

2.2 Power Amplifier (PA) Perfonnance Indica to rs

Pages

11

III

IV

v

Vl11

IX'

xu

3

4

8

8

9

9

9

I j

II

12

v

12 2.2.1 Output Power

2.2.2 Power Gain 13

2.2.3 Efficiency 13

2.2.4 Linearity 14

2.3 Linear Power Amplifier 16

2.4 Switching Mode Power Amplifier 21

2.5 Pr ior Work on Integrated Power Ampliiier (PA) 26

C hapter 3 Methodology 33

3.1 Introduction 33

3.2 Project Flow Chart 33

3.3 Project Simulation Flow Chart 35

3A Simulation tool 36

3.5 Techno 10gy Process 36

3.6 MOSFET Model 37

3.7 Design Specifications 37

3.8 Power Amplifier (PA) Design 39

Chapter 4 Results and Discussions 43

4.1 Introduction 43

4.2 Analysis of output signal 43

4.3 Analysis of output power 45

4.4 Analysis of power gain 47

4.5 Analysis of voltage gain 49

C hapter 5 Conclusions and Recommendations 52

5. 1 Conc lus ions 52

5.2 Recommendations 53

V I

55 References

VII

LIST OF TABLES

Table Pages

11 CMOS manufacturing process 3

1.2 Mobile Telephony Technologies and Standards 7

2. 1 Summary ofpower amplifier classes 24

3. 1 Power amplifler specifications 37

4.1 Simulation summary of class AB cascode power

amplifier 48

VLI L

LIST OF FIGURES

Figures Pages

1.1 Basic CMOS inverter

1.2 Cross section of CMOS inverter 2

1.3 Func tio na l block diagram ofa communica tio n system 3

2. 1 Power amplifier circuit 12

2.2 I-dB Compress ion characteristic 14

2.3 Third order intercept 14

2.4 Output signa l of class A power amplifier 16

2.5 Output s ignal of class B power amplifier 16

2.6 Output s ignal of class AB power amplifier 17

2.7 Output signa l of c lass C power amplifier 18

2.8 Q-po int of class A, AB, Band C power amplifier 18

2.9 Conductio n ang les re lations [or linea r power amplifier 19

2. 10 C lass D power amplifier

(a) C ircuit Implementation

(a) Equiva lent Circuit

(b) Vo ltage and Cun'cnt Waveform 21

2.11 Class E power amplifier circuit 22

2.12 Vo ltage and Current Wavetorm ofIdeal c lass E Power

Amp lifier 22

LX

23 2.13 Class F Power Amplifier Circuit

2. 14 Voltage and Current Waveform of Idea l class F Power

Amplifier 23

2. 15 T he Driver and Output Stage o f The Power Amplilier 25

2. 16 T he Schemat ic o f The Impro ve Power Amplifie r 26

2. 17 Schematic of The Driver Stage 27

2.18 Schematic of The Power Stage 28

2. 19 Schematic of The Output Matching Network 28

2.20 Schematic of Power Stage and Output Matching

Network 29

2.2 1 Schematic of Driver Stage 29

222 A Tra nsfo rmer Type Power Combiner Power Amplifier

C ircuit 30

2.23 Sing le-ended T wo Stage class AB Power Amp lifier 3 1

3.1 Project Flow Chart 33

3.2 Project Simu lation Flow Chart 34

3.3 The Full Schematic of Power Amplifier 40

4. 1 Input and Output Transient Voltage for The Power

Amplifier 42

4.2 Variation of Input Power with Frequency 42

4.3 Va riation of Output Po wer with Time (W= 3000 11m) 43

4.4 Va riation ofOutpu( Power with Time (W= 1000 Ilm) 43

4.5 Var iation of Output Power with Time (W= 8000 11m) 44

4.6 Power Gain Measurement (W= 3000 Ilm) 45

4.7 Power Ga in Measurement (W= 1000 Ilm) 45

x

4.8 Power Gain Measurement (W= 8000 )lm) 46

4.9 Va riation of The Vo li age Gain with Frequency

(W= 3000 )lm) 47

4.10 Variation ofThe Vo ltage Ga in with Frequency

(W= 1000 )l m) 47

4. 11 Variation ofThe Voltage Ga in with Frequency

(W= 8000 )lm) 48

Xl

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

IG

2G

3G

4G

AC

ADS

AM PS

AS IC

CD MA

CDMA2000

IxEV DO

CMOS

DAM PS

DAT

DC

EDA

EDGE

FDMA

GPRS

GPS

GSM

First Generati on

Second Generat ion

Third Genera tion

Foul1h Generatio n

A lternating Current

Advanced Des ign System

Advanced Mobile Phone Serv ice

Applicatio n Spec ific Integrated C ircuit

Code Division Multiple Access

Code Division Multipl e Access 2000 Evo lutio n Data

Optimized

Complementary Metal Oxide Semico nducto r

Digita l Adva nced Mo bile Phone System

Distributed Active Transfonner

Direct Current

Electronic Design Automatio n

Enhanced Data Rates fo r G lo bal Evo lut io n

Frequency Di visio n Mu ltiple Access

General Packet Radio Services

Glo bal Pos itio ning System

Glo bal System fo r Mobile

XlI

HSCSD High Speed Circuit Switched Da ta

HSDPA

HSUPA

IC

iDEN

IEEE

IMT-2000

IMTS

ITU

L TE Adva nced

MIM

MOSFET

NMT

PA

PAE

PDC

RF

SOC

SONNET

TAC S

UMTS

WC DMA

WiMAX

WLAN

High Speed Downlink Packet Access

High Speed Uplink Packet Access

Integrated Circui t

Integrated Dig ita l Enhanced Netwo rk

Institute of Elect rica l and Electronics Enginecrs

Internat ional Mobile Tcleco nununications-2000

Improved Mob ile Telepho ne Service

Internatio nal Telecommunica tion Union

Lo ng Tenn Evo lution Adva nced

Meta l-Insulato r-Meta l

Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effec t Transistor

Nordic Mob;le Te lephone

Power Ampli fier

Power Added Efficiency

Persona l Dig ita l Cellula r

Rad io Frequency

System On C hi p

3d Planar High-Freq uency Electromagnetic Softwa re

To tal Access Conununication System

Uni versa l Mobile Teleco mmunicat ions System

Wideband Code Divisio n Multiple Access

Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access

Wireless Loca l Area Network

XI II

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 CM OS Technology

Comp lementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) is formed by using a

parrs o f p-type and n-type Meta l Oxide Semiconductor Fie ld Effec t T ransistor

(MOSFET) transistors for logic function and o nly one of the transistors is switched

o n at anyt ime [I]. The most common CMOS log ic func tion is invel1 er as shown in

Figure 1.1. The phrase "metal-oxide-scmiconductor" is referred to the fabr icat io n

process where metal oxide is used to build CMOS chips as shown in Figure 1.2 [2].

Nowadays, th e gate electrodes are most ly made from po lys ili con instead o f melal.

However, the name CMOS nevertheless continues 10 be used in the future.

~ p-MO FET

Figure L I Bas ic C MOS inverter

,,·M O:;FEr I'"M ()~F FI

Sl'micllnLlll~t(JT

Figure 1.2 Cross section of CMOS in verter

CMOS has been a dominant technology ovcr the years due to high speed

performance and low power opera tion [3]. The decrease in all phys ica l technology

has indicated that the integration density and the circuit speed are significantly

increased fro m generation to generation. This concept is known as concept o f sca ling.

During the past, micrometre technology is used in manufacturing process. Year by

year, nanometre technology has been s low ly implemented into integrated cilcuit (IC)

as shown in Table I. [n addition, CMOS is chose as the substitution of other

technology due to the low power dissipation in CMOS circuiL Conseq uently, the low

power dissipation provides low power delay and this allows very high integration

densities [4]. Furthermore, high noisc margin makes CMOS circuit res istant to

variation of supply voltage, temperature and process. This is advantage lor handling

high complexity of future IC and fa st realization of Application Specific Integrated

Circuit (ASIC).

As a result , CMOS technology is implemented in many applications such as

Third Generation (3G) mobil e communication, Global Positioning System (GPS),

Wire less Local Area Network (WLAN) and B luetooth. In mobile co mmunication

system, CMOS is made as the tecrulology of choice for its low voltage and low

po wcr operation o flC.

2

--

Table 1.1 CMOS manufacturing process [5]

Year 1999 2000 2002 2006 2008 2010 2011 20 13 2015

Product ion

technology

180run I 3 orun 90nm 65run 45nm 32nm 22run 16mn II run

1.2 Communication System

Communicat ion is a process tha t in vo lves a sender who encodes and sends

the message to the receiver where the receiver decodes the message and reply to the

sender through a communication channe l. A communication system is a system that

consists of three bas ic components which are transmitt er, communicat ion channel,

and receiver. In genera l, a communication system can be represen ted by the

functional block di agra m as shown in Figure 1.3.

Outpu t

signal -­

infomUl tioll

source- and

JlLPln lr.l nsduc ~r

Outpu t

transducer

---. Tran~lllltkr

Channel

r ­ -

Recei\ er

Figure 1.3 Functional block diag ram of a communication system [6]

3

Communication system has been developed into a few types such as optical

conununicalion system, microwave conununication system, satellite conununication

system and mobile conununication system. Due to high speed requirement of

multimedia access, mobile conununication system continuously developed in recent

years.

1.2.1 Mobile Communication System

The flrst mobile system was developed in the 1940s. However, these cdl

phones were constrained by limited mobility and poor limited service. In the 1960s,

another new system called Improved Mobile Telephone Service (IMTS) has replaced

the old system due to improvement on direct dialling and higher bandwidth [7]. Then,

the fLrst analogue mobile system is developed based on the IMTS in the late 1960s

which is known as ftrst generation (I G). At the end of 1980s, the second generation

(2G) were introduced [8]. This continues to third generation (3G) which was

launched in Japan in 2000. The fourth generation (4G) is cUITently under

development. The technology is expected to launch by the year 2011 [8].

• First Generation (IG)

Cell signals were based on analogue system transmission which is certainly

voice. The technique used for transmission was based on Frequency Division

Multiple Access (FDMA). Thc quality of I G is low and it had low data rates.

The most conunon standard is Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT), Total

4

Access Communication System (TACS), and Advanced Mobile Phone

•

Service (A MP S) [8].

Second Generation (2G)

Unlike the I G mobile communication system, the 2G mobi le communication

systems use digital radio transmissio n. Therefore, the new system allows

trans fer of both vo ice and digital data. The new system has better qualit y and

higher capac it y at lower cost to consumers. The four main standards for 2G

systems are Globa l System for Mobile (GSM), Digital Advanced Mobile

Phone System (DAMPS), Code Division Multiple Access (COMA) and

Personal Digital Cellular (PDC) [9].

• Second Generation Transitional (2.SG, 2.7SG)

The 2G trans itional systems are the adva nced upgrad e for the 2G system. The

three common technologies of this system are High Speed Circuit Sw itc hed

Data (HSCSD), Genera l Packet Rad io Services (GPRS) and Enhanced Data

Rates for Global Evo lution (EDGE) [9].

• Third Generation (3G)

International Mobile Telecommunicat ions-2000 (IMT-2000) is also known as

3G mobile conununication system which was born at IntemationaI

Teleco mmunica tion Union (nU) [1 0]. The 3G mob ile communication

system prov id es faster communication services than 2G system. [t allows

5

s imultaneous transfer of voice and high speed digita l data. The maIn

standards of 3G mobile communication systems are Universal Mobile

Telecommunications System (UMTS), Code Division Multiple Access 2000

Evolution Data Optimized (CDMA2000 I xEV DO), and Wideband Code

Divisio n Multiple Access (WCDMA) [9] .

• Third Generation Transitional (3.5G, 3.75G, 3.9G)

The 3G transitional systems are the continuation and upgrade of 3G

technology. It offers higher data rat es and larger band width than 3G

technology. T he two standards of 3G transitio nal systems are High Speed

Downlink Packet Access (HSD PA) and High Speed Uplink Packet Access

(HSUPA) [ 10]

• Fourth Generation (4G)

The concept of International Mobile Te lecommunications- Advanced (IMT­

Advanced) from the [TU has lead to the deve lopment of 4G mobile

communication system. The 4G system 0 ffers higher data transmission rates

with high mobility than 3G systems. The two technologies of 4G system are

Long Tenn Evo lution Adva nced (LTE Adva nced) and IEEE 802.16m [9] .

6

T able 1.2 Mobi le Telephony Techno log ies and Standards[9]

Generatio n Standard Frequency band Throughput

IG NMT, C-Nets, Allow voice calls 600-1 200 bps

AMPS, TACS and sending text

messages

2G GSM, CDMA, Allows transter of 9 .6 kbps

DAMPS, PDC, vo ice o r low-vo lume

iDEN dig ita l data.

2G transitional GPRS, EDGE, Allows simultaneous 1 56 or 180 kbps

(2.5G,2.75G) HSCSD, trans fer 0 f vo ice and

CDMA2000 moderate digital

. IxRTT data.

3G UMTS , Allows simultaneo us 384 kbps, 1.8 or

WCDMA-FDD, tra nsfer o f vo ice and 36 Mbps

CDMA2000 high- speed digita l I

IIxEV DO data. I

--­3G transitional HSDPA,HSUPA Allows simultaneous 7 .2 ~ps- IO Nfbps

(3.5G,3.750, transfer of voice and

3.9G) very high- speed

dig ita l data.

4G LTE advanced, Allows simu Itaneo us I Up to IOOMbps

WiMAX transfer of vo ice and

u lt ra high-speed

digital data.

7