Power divider and power amplifier

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a power divider (100), comprising: a first split block (110), the first split block (110) comprising an input (102) and a first output (104), the first split block (110) being configured to receive an input signal (# imgabs0 #) through the input (102) and forward the input signal (# imgabs1 #). The power divider (100) further comprises a second output (104 ') and a first non-linear impedance (120) connected to the first separation block (110). The first output end (104) is used for receiving an input signal (# imgabs2 #), the first nonlinear impedance (120) is used for reflecting a reflected signal (# imgabs3 #) of the input signal (# imgabs2 #) to the first output end (104) and forwarding a forward signal (# imgabs5 #) of the input signal (# imgabs4 #) to the second output end (104 '), and the power ratio between the reflected signal (# imgabs6 #) and the forward signal (# imgabs7 #) is based on the configuration of the first nonlinear impedance (120). Therefore, a low-complexity power divider (100) with good performance is provided. In addition, the embodiment of the invention also relates to a power amplifier comprising the power divider.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The embodiment of the present invention relates to a power divider. In addition, the embodiment of the present invention also relates to a power amplifier including the power divider. Background Art

[0002] A power splitter is a device that splits an input signal into two or more output signals. Power splitters are commonly found in power amplifiers (PA) for radio frequency (RF) applications and are widely used in communication equipment for telecommunications, such as base stations.

[0003] High-order modulation schemes widely used in telecommunication infrastructure networks generate high peak-to-average (PAR) modulated signals, such as 8 dB or 9 dB PAR. The PA is the most power-hungry building block in wireless base stations, so high efficiency over a wide output power dynamic range is required, for example, high efficiency from 8 dB-9 dB back off to peak power.

[0004] Traditional PA technology solutions for improving efficiency power include power segmentation, using multiple small PAs based on advanced PA architectures, such as Doherty, Load Modulated Balanced Amplifier (LMBA), out-phasing, etc. In order to optimize PA performance, such as efficiency, gain, peak power and linearity, a dedicated drive signal with customized amplitude and phase (preferably, power-related nonlinear amplitude and phase) is required. Summary of the invention

[0005] The purpose of the embodiments of the present invention is to provide a technical solution to reduce or solve the shortcomings and problems of traditional technical solutions.

[0006] Another object of an embodiment of the present invention is to provide a power divider technical solution that is easy to implement and produce.

[0007] The above and other objects are achieved by the subject-matter of the independent claims. Further embodiments of the invention can be found in the dependent claims.

[0008] According to a first aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects are achieved by a power divider, the power divider comprising:

[0009] A first separation block, comprising an input end and a first output end, the first separation block being used to receive an input signal through the input end and forward the input signal;

[0010] A second output terminal;

[0011] a first nonlinear impedance connected to the first separation block and configured to reflect a reflected signal of the input signal to the first output end and forward a forward signal of the input signal to the second output end, wherein a power ratio between the reflected signal and the forward signal is based on a configuration of the first nonlinear impedance.

[0012] The advantage of the power divider described in the first aspect is that it is simple to implement. In addition, compared with the traditional solution, fewer components are required to produce the power divider according to the first aspect. This also means that the cost of producing the disclosed power divider is lower.

[0013] In an implementation of the power divider according to the first aspect, the first nonlinear impedance is connected to the second output terminal through a linear impedance; and the power ratio is based on the configuration of the first nonlinear impedance and the configuration of the linear impedance.

[0014] The advantage of this implementation is that, by having a linear impedance connected to the second output terminal, impedance matching can be performed with a circuit connected to the second output terminal. In addition, the power ratio can be designed by appropriately selecting the configuration of the linear impedance.

[0015] In an implementation manner of the power divider according to the first aspect, the reflected signal and the forward signal are nonlinear in amplitude and phase relative to the input signal.

[0016] In an implementation of the power divider according to the first aspect, the nonlinear impedance includes at least one diode connected in a parallel configuration or a series configuration.

[0017] In an implementation of the power divider according to the first aspect, the nonlinear impedance comprises two diodes connected in an anti-parallel series configuration or an anti-parallel parallel configuration.

[0018] The advantage of this implementation is that the nonlinear variation of the output signals at the first output terminal and the second output terminal is greater than that of a single diode configuration. In addition, even-order harmonic distortion may be smaller.

[0019] In an implementation manner of the power divider according to the first aspect, the two diodes are Schottky diodes.

[0020] The advantage of this implementation is that the Schottky diode has a short response time and is therefore suitable for high modulation bandwidth input signals.

[0021] In an implementation of the power divider according to the first aspect, the power divider also includes at least one second nonlinear impedance connected to the first separation block, wherein the first separation block is used to forward a first part of the forward signal to the first nonlinear impedance, and forward a second part of the forward signal to the second nonlinear impedance.

[0022] The advantage of this implementation is that multiple output signals can be provided.

[0023] In an implementation of the power divider according to the first aspect,

[0024] The first nonlinear impedance is used to reflect the reflected signal of the first part of the forward signal to the first output end, and forward the forward signal of the first part of the forward signal to the second output end;

[0025] The second nonlinear impedance is used to reflect the reflected signal of the second part of the forward signal to the first output end, and forward the forward signal of the second part of the forward signal to a third output end.

[0026] In an implementation of the power divider according to the first aspect, the power divider also includes a second separation block, which is respectively connected to the first nonlinear impedance, the second nonlinear impedance and the second output end, wherein the second separation block is used to combine the forward signal of the first part of the forward signal from the first nonlinear impedance and the forward signal of the second part of the forward signal from the second nonlinear impedance into a combined signal, and forward the combined signal to the second output end.

[0027] In an implementation manner of the power divider according to the first aspect, the second separation block is connected to a reference ground through a linear impedance.

[0028] In an implementation manner of the power splitter according to the first aspect, the first separation block is a 3-dB hybrid coupler, and the second separation block is a 3-dB hybrid combiner.

[0029] An advantage of this implementation is that it is less sensitive to impedance mismatches if an external circuit is connected to the second output terminal.

[0030] According to a second aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects are achieved by a power amplifier comprising a power divider according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0031] In an implementation manner of the power splitter according to the second aspect, the power amplifier is a multi-input power amplifier.

[0032] Other applications and advantages of embodiments of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0033] The accompanying drawings serve to clarify and explain different embodiments of the present invention, in which:

[0034] - Figure 1 A power divider including two output terminals provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0035] - Figure 2 A power divider including two output terminals and a linear impedance provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0036] - Figure 3 A power divider including multiple output terminals provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0037] - Figure 4 A power divider including two output terminals and two separation blocks provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0038] - Figure 5 and Figure 6 The nonlinear impedance including the series diode configuration provided by the embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0039] - Figure 7 and Figure 8 The nonlinear impedance including the parallel diode configuration provided by the embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0040] - Fig. 9 A power amplifier including a power divider provided in an embodiment of the present invention is shown;

[0041] - Fig.10 and Fig.11 A graph showing the measured NLPS response. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0042] Traditional power dividers have various technical limitations and implementation issues. Analog power dividers provide a constant amplitude / phase relationship between the output signals that is independent of the incident power, thereby providing the optimal drive signal for only one instantaneous power level, thus affecting performance elsewhere. Another disadvantage of analog power dividers is the small gain. On the other hand, digital power dividers have the potential to provide optimal drive signals for all multiple input single output (MISO) PA topologies, power levels, frequencies, and temperatures. However, the disadvantages of digital power dividers are complex systems, calibration limitations, high direct current (DC) power consumption, and large size.

[0043] Therefore, an object of an embodiment of the present invention is to provide a power divider that splits an input signal into at least two output signals with nonlinear amplitude / phase behavior, thereby emulating a multi-input driving scheme of a specific PA. The disclosed power divider can be implemented autonomously, i.e., without any external control signals except for a low-complexity DC bias voltage for controlling nonlinear components (such as diodes). In this way, the performance of a MISO PA can be similar to a multi-input scenario, but with only one transmit (Tx) chain.

[0044] Therefore, embodiments of the present invention relate to power division that can achieve a nonlinear amplitude / phase response relative to an input power signal. It is achieved by a nonlinear component in the form of a nonlinear impedance connected to a passive splitter block and passive components to ensure a bias voltage for the nonlinear impedance and an appropriate initial linear amplitude and phase relationship for the output signal. According to embodiments of the present invention, both the signal reflected from the nonlinear impedance and the signal passing through the nonlinear impedance (also referred to as a forward signal in the present invention) are used for the present power divider.

[0045] Figure 1 A general block diagram of a power divider 100 provided in an embodiment of the present invention. The power divider 100 disclosed herein includes a first separation block 110, and the first separation block 110 includes an input terminal 102 and a first output terminal 104. The first separation block 110 is used to receive an input signal through the input terminal 102. and forwards the input signal The power divider 100 further includes a second output terminal 104'. The power divider 100 further includes a first nonlinear impedance 120 connected to the first separation block 110, the nonlinear impedance 120 is used to convert the input signal The reflected signal The input signal is reflected to the first output terminal 104 and The forward signal Forwarded to the second output terminal 104'. Reflected signal With forward signal The power ratio between φ and φ is based on the configuration of the first non-linear impedance 120. This can be understood as the power ratio depending on the configuration of the first non-linear impedance 120.

[0046] Input signal The signal from the output of the first separation block 110 enters the input of the nonlinear impedance 120, where the reflected signal is reflected back to the first output terminal 104 of the first separation block 110, and the forward signal Through the nonlinear impedance 120. Input signal and the first output terminal 104 (i.e., the reflected signal ) and the second output terminal 104' (i.e. the forward signal The relationship between the signals of the nonlinear impedance 120 and the nonlinear impedance 120 depends on the reflection coefficient at the input end of the nonlinear impedance 120 and the transmission coefficient of the nonlinear impedance 120, which in turn depends on the circuit configuration of the nonlinear impedance 120. The reflection coefficient is the ratio of the reflected signal wave to the forward signal wave, which in turn depends on the impedance of the separation block 110 and the nonlinear impedance 120. If the reflection coefficient is equal to 1, the input signal will be completely reflected as a reflected signal. , and if the reflection coefficient is equal to 0, the input signal will completely pass through the nonlinear impedance 120 as the forward signal The forward signal Depends on the reflection coefficient and transmission coefficient of the nonlinear impedance 120.

[0047] By properly tuning the nonlinear impedance 120, the input signal can be designed The power divider 100 can be used to provide a certain low power response and high power response, that is, a power ratio between the low power response and the high power response. The designed power ratio can depend on the application. For example, in a MISO PA application, the smallest amplifier transmits power in a low power region. Therefore, the power divider 100 transmits most of the drive signal to the smallest amplifier and transmits no drive signal or very little drive signal to a larger amplifier. In a high power region, more drive signals will be transmitted to a larger amplifier and less power will be transmitted to the smallest amplifier.

[0048] The first separation block 110 may be a forward signal and reflected signal Any circuit that separates, such as isolators, directional couplers, 3-dB hybrid couplers. 3-dB hybrid couplers are widely used, small in size, and available at low cost.

[0049] Input signal It can be a modulated continuous wave and an instantaneous bandwidth (IBW) signal, also referred to as an RF signal, which can be defined according to a communication standard such as 3GPP 5G new radio (NR). The instantaneous amplitude can be any value from 0 to the maximum amplitude value with a certain probability distribution. The modulation scheme depends on the application. Reflected signal and forward signal Relative to the input signal It will be nonlinear in amplitude and phase.

[0050] Figure 2 The embodiment of the present invention provides an increase in the linear impedance 130. Figure 1 power divider 100. Therefore, the output of the first nonlinear impedance 120 is connected to the second output terminal 104' through the linear impedance 130. Generally, the linear impedance of the power divider 100 is an impedance that remains unchanged within the operating power range of the power divider 100, and may be due to the transmission line, R component, L component, C component, etc. Therefore, the bias component in the nonlinear impedance 120, such as the parasitic elements (L, C) of the nonlinear element, also acts as a linear impedance. Therefore, the linear impedance of the power divider 100 can be considered as a linear impedance within the power range where the cascaded electrical elements in the power divider 100 act in a linear manner. However, by adding the linear impedance 130, the forward signal can be further modified. The impedance presented at the output of the separation block 110 towards the nonlinear impedance 120 defines a reflection coefficient, which comprises the cascade of the nonlinear impedance 120, the linear impedance 130 and the impedance at the second output 104' presented, for example, by an external circuit connected to the second output 104'. This also means that the reflected signal can be further modified by configuring the linear impedance 130 With forward signal The output of the first nonlinear impedance 120 is connected to the input of the linear impedance 130, which means that in this case the power ratio will be based on the configuration of the first nonlinear impedance 120 and the configuration of the linear impedance 130. The configuration of the linear impedance 130 can provide additional functions, such as impedance matching with an external circuit (not shown in the figure) connected to the second output terminal 104. If properly tuned, the linear impedance 130 can also act as a filter for the output signal from the nonlinear impedance 120. Non-limiting examples of the configuration of the linear impedance 130 are series transmission lines with characteristic impedances that cause phase shifts, and circuits including passive lumped and distributed electrical elements that produce specific reflections.

[0051] Figure 3 The embodiment of the present invention provides a power divider 100 including a plurality of output terminals. The power divider 100 may include N output terminals, where N is an integer equal to or greater than 2. Therefore, a 1-to-N power divider 100 is disclosed herein. In this N-output configuration of the power divider 100, the general topology of the power divider 100 further includes at least one second nonlinear impedance 120'' connected to the first separation block 110', such as Figure 2 Therefore, the first separation block 110' is used to separate the forward signal The first part forwarded to the first nonlinear impedance 120' and the forward signal Part II Forwarded to the input end of the second nonlinear impedance 120 ″.

[0052] like Figure 3 As shown, the first nonlinear impedance 120' is used to convert the forward signal The first part The reflected signal The first nonlinear impedance 120' also reflects the forward signal The first part The forward signal is forwarded to the second output terminal 104'. The second nonlinear impedance 120'' forwards the forward signal Part II The reflected signal The forward signal is reflected to the first output terminal 104 and the forward signal Part II The forward signal is forwarded to the third output terminal 104 ″.

[0053] The number of outputs N can be adapted to any suitable PA application by adding additional nonlinear impedances and associated outputs. Thus, in general, the input signal will be divided into N signals in the separation block 110 and then sent to their corresponding nonlinear impedances, such as Figure 3 As shown by the dashed arrows and boxes in FIG. 1 . Therefore, without any recombination after the nonlinear impedance, there will be N output signals at their respective output terminals. The N output signals will have similar signal responses, but the responses may differ in power. In general, the nonlinear component of the nonlinear impedance 120 can be activated at different instantaneous power levels by applying different bias DC voltages. Figure 3 It is further noted that each non-linear impedance 120 ′, 120 ″ may be connected to its respective output terminal 104 ′, 104 ″ via a respective linear impedance 130 ′, 130 ″.

[0054] Figure 4 On the other hand, a power divider 100 including two output terminals and two separation blocks is shown in another embodiment of the present invention. Figure 4 The power divider 100 includes a second separation block 110'', which is connected to the output end of the first nonlinear impedance 120'', the output end of the second nonlinear impedance 120'' and the second output end 104'. The second separation block 110'' is used to separate the forward signal from the first nonlinear impedance 120' The first part The forward signal from the second nonlinear impedance 120'' Part II The forward signal is combined into a combined signal , the combined signal is forwarded to the second output terminal 104'. It should also be noted that the second separation block 110'' is connected to the reference ground 140 through a linear impedance 130 for balanced termination.

[0055] In the embodiment of the present invention, the first separation block 110' is a 3-dB hybrid coupler, and the second separation block 110'' is a 3-dB hybrid combiner. In the case of using a 3-dB hybrid coupler as the first separation block 110', the input signal will be divided into two paths with the same amplitude but a 90-degree phase shift from each other. Therefore, there will be two separate nonlinear impedance blocks 120', 120''. The two signals are recombined into a combined signal in the second separation block 110'' , in this case the output 3-dB hybrid coupler. As described above, the linear impedance 130' acts as a terminal and is therefore connected to the reference ground 140 and thus has another function as the linear impedance in the previous embodiment. In the case of recombination, symmetry is required between the two paths because an imbalance in phase and amplitude will occur at the output of the hybrid coupler, which will result in power waste.

[0056] Figure 4 The illustrated embodiment may be intended to support a 2-input LMBA having a control amplifier connected to the first output terminal 104 and a balanced amplifier connected to the second output terminal 104' when the configuration of the nonlinear impedance 120 is a series configuration. For a parallel nonlinear configuration of the nonlinear impedance 120, the connections of the control amplifier and the balanced amplifier are swapped, i.e., the control amplifier is connected to the second output terminal 104' and the balanced amplifier is connected to the first output terminal 104. This topology belongs to the NLPS-based hybrid coupler and 2-output category.

[0057] As mentioned above, the reflected signal With forward signal The power ratio between is based at least in part on the configuration of the first nonlinear impedance 120. Therefore, in the following, reference will be made to Figures 5 to 8 Various exemplary configurations of the first nonlinear impedance 120 are described. Figure 5 and Figure 6 1 shows a scenario where the nonlinear impedance 120 includes a series diode configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 7 and Figure 8 A scenario is shown where the non-linear impedance 120 comprises a parallel diode configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention. Generally speaking, the non-linear impedance 120 comprises at least one diode 122, 122' connected in a parallel configuration or a series configuration.

[0058] The nonlinear impedance 120 can be implemented with diodes, nonlinear capacitance, and passive components (such as transmission lines, capacitors, inductors, etc.). The inductors L1 and L2 in the configuration of the nonlinear impedance 120 provide a DC bias voltage to the diode and prevent the RF signal from entering the DC voltage line. Ideally, the inductors L1 and L2 are open circuits for RF signals, i.e., high impedance, and short circuits for DC signals, i.e., low impedance. The functions of the capacitors C1 and C2 are opposite to those of the inductors L1 and L2, i.e., they act as open circuits for DC signals and short circuits for RF signals. In actual implementations, the parasitic elements and transmission lines of the nonlinear impedance 120 will contribute to the linear response of the power divider 100. However, it should be noted that the nonlinear impedance 120 can be implemented with other types of nonlinear elements (such as varactor diodes, PIN diodes, transistors, etc.).

[0059] For low input power levels where the diodes 122, 122' are in a high resistance state, the passive components provide some reflection for the signal coming out of the first separation block 110. This sets the initial amplitude difference between the signals at the first output terminal 104 and the second output terminal 104', respectively. The passive components also provide a DC bias voltage for controlling the diodes 122, 122'. For input power levels above the on-state of the diodes 122, 122' (which is set by the diode characteristics and the applied bias DC voltage), the resistance of the diodes 122, 122'' will drop, and the power delivered to the first output terminal 104 will increase, while the power delivered to the second output terminal 104' will decrease for a parallel diode configuration. For a series configuration, the opposite is true. The phase difference between the signal at the first output terminal 104 and the signal at the second output terminal 104 is also non-linear in this operating region. Non-linear resistors should be able to respond to instantaneous changes in the input signal, i.e., multiples of the instantaneous bandwidth (IBW). Therefore, the diodes 122, 122' selected for the nonlinear impedance 120 are Schottky diodes in embodiments of the present invention because of the rapid response of such diodes. The diodes are used in an anti-parallel parallel configuration so as to be effective for both the positive and negative parts of the instantaneous RF signal. A single diode configuration will only act on half of the cycle of the RF signal wave, i.e., either the positive signal wave or the negative signal wave, depending on the diode orientation. This means that the performance is lower and the even harmonic distortion is greater than a two diode configuration that acts on the entire cycle of the RF signal wave.

[0060] Figure 5 A single diode 122 is shown in a series configuration. Figure 5, the circuit configuration includes a first capacitor C1, a diode 122, and a second capacitor C2 connected in series between an input terminal 124 and an output terminal 126 of the circuit configuration. A DC control voltage (also denoted as a DC bias voltage) is connected to a node between the diode 122 and the second capacitor C2 via a second inductor L2. The diode 122 can be reverse biased, and the DC bias voltage can be applied from either side of the diode 122 with the appropriate sign, i.e., plus (+) or minus (–). In addition, the node between the first capacitor C1 and the diode 122 is connected to a reference ground 140 through a first inductor L1. Figure 6 Two diodes 122, 122' are shown connected in a series configuration. Thus, in this example, the nonlinear impedance 120 includes two diodes 122, 122' connected in an anti-parallel series configuration. Figure 6 The circuit includes Figure 5 , two series circuits are shown connected in parallel between an input 124 and an output 126 , but with oppositely oriented diodes 122 , 122 ′.

[0061] For the series diode configuration at low input power, the diodes 122, 122' will act as a high impedance circuit, which reflects most of the signal to the first output terminal 104, and almost no power is transferred to the linear impedance 130 and the second output terminal 104' through the non-linear impedance 120. However, for the series diode configuration at high input power, the diodes 122, 122' will act as a low impedance circuit, thus transferring most of the signal to the linear impedance 130 and the second output terminal 104', and almost no signal is reflected to the first output terminal.

[0062] Figure 7 A single diode 122 is shown in a parallel configuration. Figure 7 , the first capacitor C1, the diode 122, and the second capacitor C2 are connected in series between a node between the input terminal 124 and the output terminal 126 and the reference ground 140. In addition, the first inductor L1 is connected between a node between the first capacitor C1 and the diode 122 and the reference ground 140. The DC control voltage is connected to a node between the second capacitor C2 and the diode through the second inductor L1. Figure 8 Two diodes 122, 122' are shown connected in an anti-parallel parallel configuration. Figure 8 The circuit includes Figure 7 The anti-parallel parallel configuration shown in FIG. 1 connects two circuits between an input terminal 124 and an output terminal 126 , but with oppositely oriented diodes 122 , 122 ′.

[0063] For the parallel diode configuration at low input power, the diodes 122, 122' will act as a high impedance circuit, thereby passing most of the signal through the nonlinear impedance 120 and reflecting almost no signal. However, for the parallel diode configuration at high input power, the diodes 122, 122' will act as a low impedance circuit, thus reflecting most of the signal and passing almost no signal through the nonlinear impedance 120.

[0064] It should be noted that in actual implementation, the diode also contains L and C parasitic elements that are independent of the RF input power. The diode is not open at low RF incident power and is not short at high RF power. All components that do not change in the operating power region can be considered as linear impedances. The diode resistance will depend on the RF power, so in this case it is considered a nonlinear impedance.

[0065] Fig. 9 An N-way multi-input power amplifier 200 driven by a single Tx signal from a signal provider block 210 to a power divider 100 via a signal line 220 according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown. The power amplifier 200 can be used in a communication device such as a base station of a communication network. Each amplifier chain in the power amplifier 200 includes a pre-driver 232, a driver 234, and a final stage 236. For different implementations, the number of amplifier chains may be different, depending on the application. All amplifier chains are connected to a common node, which outputs a high-power Tx with the help of a combiner (not shown) and then sent to the next processing block, which can be a filter, antenna, etc. (not shown). Depending on the operating principle of a particular MISO PA, the amplifier chains can affect each other or be isolated from each other. The operating principle is set by the combiner characteristics and the drive signal applied to each amplifier chain. In a traditional power divider, there will be more than one small signal Tx drive signal 220. Any additional Tx drive signal will add more digital infrastructure components, modulators, filters, etc., resulting in higher cost, DC power consumption, volume and complexity. Therefore, the power divider 100 according to the present invention reduces the number of components while still maintaining high performance.

[0066] Fig.10 and Fig.11 A graph showing the measured response of an embodiment of the power splitter 100 is shown, wherein Fig.10 shows the results for an anti-parallel series Schottky diode configuration, while Fig.11 The results of the anti-parallel shunt Schottky diode configuration are shown. The x-axis shows the input power in dBm, the right y-axis shows the phase difference between the first output terminal Out1 and the second output terminal Out2 in dB, and the left y-axis shows the gain in dB. Fig.10It can be seen from Figure 1 that at input power up to 7 dBm, the impedance of the nonlinear impedance is very high, so most of the signal is reflected to the first output terminal Out1. From about 7 dBm and above, the impedance of the nonlinear impedance becomes lower, which means that more power flows to the second output terminal Out2 and less power flows to the first output terminal Out1. In this power region, the phase response is nonlinear. From Figure 1 Fig.11 It can be seen that at input power up to 7dBm, the impedance of the nonlinear block is very high, so most of the power goes to the second output Out2. From about 7dBm and above, the impedance of the nonlinear block becomes lower, which means that more power is reflected to the first output Out1 and less power is directed to the second output Out2. In this power region, the phase response is nonlinear.

[0067] Finally, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, but also relates to and incorporates all embodiments within the scope of the attached independent claims.

Claims

1. A power divider (100), comprising: The first separation block (110) comprises an input end (102) and a first output end (104), wherein the first separation block (110) is used to receive an input signal ( ) and forwards the input signal ( ); A second output terminal (104'); A first nonlinear impedance (120) is connected to the first separation block (110) and is used to convert the input signal ( ) of the reflected signal ( ) is reflected to the first output terminal (104), and the input signal ( )'s forward signal ( ) is forwarded to the second output terminal (104'), wherein the reflected signal ( ) and the forward signal ( ) is based on the configuration of the first nonlinear impedance (120).

2. The power divider (100) according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first non-linear impedance (120) is connected to the second output terminal (104') via a linear impedance (130); the power ratio is based on the configuration of the first non-linear impedance (120) and the configuration of the linear impedance (130).

3. The power divider (100) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The reflected signal ( ) and the forward signal ( ) relative to the input signal ( ) is nonlinear in amplitude and phase.

4. The power divider (100) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that: The nonlinear impedance (120) includes at least one diode (122, 122') connected in a parallel configuration or a series configuration.

5. The power divider (100) according to claim 4, characterized in that: The nonlinear impedance (120) includes two diodes (122, 122') connected in an anti-parallel series configuration or an anti-parallel parallel configuration.

6. The power divider (100) according to claim 5, characterized in that: The two diodes (122, 122') are Schottky diodes.

7. The power divider (100) according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising at least one second nonlinear impedance (120'') connected to the first separation block (110'), wherein: The first separation block (110') is used to separate the forward signal ( ) ) is forwarded to the first nonlinear impedance (120'), and the forward signal ( ) ) is forwarded to the second nonlinear impedance (120'').

8. The power divider (100) according to claim 7, characterized in that: The first nonlinear impedance (120') is used to convert the forward signal ( ) of the first part ( ) is reflected to the first output end (104), and the forward signal ( ) of the first part ( ) forwards the forward signal to the second output terminal (104'); The second nonlinear impedance (120'') is used to convert the forward signal ( ) of the second part ( ) is reflected to the first output end (104), and the forward signal ( ) of the second part ( ) is forwarded to the third output terminal (104'').

9. The power divider (100) according to claim 8, further comprising a second separation block (110''), connected to the first nonlinear impedance (120'), the second nonlinear impedance (120'') and the second output terminal (104'), respectively, wherein: The second separation block (110'') is used to separate the forward signal ( ) of the first part ( ) and the forward signal from the second nonlinear impedance (120'') ( ) of the second part ( ) is combined into a combined signal ( ) and the combined signal ( ) is forwarded to the second output terminal (104').

10. The power divider (100) according to claim 9, characterized in that: The second separation block (110") is connected to a reference ground (140) via a linear impedance (130).

11. The power divider (100) according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that: The first separation block (110') is a 3-dB hybrid coupler, and the second separation block (110'') is a 3-dB hybrid combiner.

12. A power amplifier (200) comprising the power divider (100) according to any one of the preceding claims.

13. The power amplifier (200) according to claim 12, characterized in that: The power amplifier (200) is a multi-input power amplifier.

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