Millimeter wave radio frequency power amplifier and millimeter wave radio frequency transceiver

Abstract

The application provides a millimeter wave radio frequency power amplifier and a millimeter wave radio frequency transceiver. In the amplifier, input differential signals are connected to the gates of a pair of amplification tubes and a pair of auxiliary tubes through a pair of tube-decoupling capacitors of the auxiliary tubes and a pair of tube-decoupling capacitors of the amplification tubes; the sources of the pair of auxiliary tubes and the pair of amplification tubes are grounded; the drains of the first amplification tube and the first auxiliary tube and the source of the first common-gate tube are connected; the drains of the second amplification tube and the second auxiliary tube and the source of the second common-gate tube are connected; the gates of the pair of common-gate tubes are connected; a common-gate tube gate bias voltage is connected to the gates of the pair of common-gate tubes through a bias resistor, and the other end of a grounding capacitor is connected to the gates of the pair of common-gate tubes; the drains of the pair of common-gate tubes are connected to a parallel capacitor and a primary coil inductance of an output balun, and a secondary coil inductance of the output balun is connected to a single-ended output signal. The application can improve the OP1dB of the radio frequency power amplifier without improving the working voltage of the power amplifier.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of integrated circuits, and in particular to a millimeter wave radio frequency power amplifier and a millimeter wave radio frequency transceiver. BACKGROUND

[0002] With the rapid development of the fifth generation wireless communication technology, the application of millimeter wave frequency band communication is more and more widely. As an important module in the millimeter wave transceiver, the millimeter wave radio frequency power amplifier has higher and higher requirements for its working performance. As a core index of the millimeter wave power amplifier, how to improve the linearity of the millimeter wave radio frequency power amplifier under the condition of low voltage and low power consumption is an important research direction in millimeter wave communication.

[0003] Since the power amplifier works in the millimeter wave frequency band, the channel length of the CMOS transistor is narrow, and the normal working voltage domain is low. The voltage domain in which the CMOS transistor works directly determines the maximum swing voltage between the source and the drain of the transistor, thereby determining the maximum output power and OP1dB that the CMOS transistor can provide. OP1dB, as a core index of the power amplifier, is used to measure the non-linear characteristics of the amplifier, which determines the performance of the power amplifier. Therefore, designing a CMOS millimeter wave power amplifier with high OP1dB under low voltage domain has always been an important research direction.

[0004] In a common structure of a common-source common-gate differential amplifier, the impedance matching problem between the drain of the amplifying tube and the source of the cascode tube will reduce the linearity of the amplifier, thereby affecting the OP1dB index of the amplifier. Therefore, improving the OP1dB of the common-source common-gate amplifier under low power voltage has become a design difficulty. SUMMARY

[0005] The present application aims to provide a millimeter wave radio frequency power amplifier and a millimeter wave radio frequency transceiver, which can improve the OP1dB of the radio frequency power amplifier without increasing the working voltage of the power amplifier.

[0006] In a first aspect, the application provides a millimeter wave radio frequency power amplifier, which comprises: an amplification tube pair, a cascode tube pair, an amplification tube pair decoupling capacitor, a bias resistor, a grounding capacitor, a parallel capacitor, an output balun, and an auxiliary tube pair and an auxiliary tube pair decoupling capacitor; an input differential signal is connected to the gates of the amplification tube pair and the auxiliary tube pair through the auxiliary tube pair decoupling capacitor and the amplification tube pair decoupling capacitor; the sources of the auxiliary tube pair and the amplification tube pair are grounded; the drains of the first amplification tube, the sources of the first cascode tube, and the drains of the first auxiliary tube are connected; the drains of the second amplification tube, the sources of the second cascode tube, and the drains of the second auxiliary tube are connected; the gates of the cascode tube pair are connected; a cascode tube gate bias voltage is connected to the gates of the cascode tube pair through the bias resistor, and the other end of the grounding capacitor is connected to the gates of the cascode tube pair; the drains of the cascode tube pair are connected to the parallel capacitor and the primary coil inductance of the output balun, one end of the secondary coil inductance of the output balun is grounded, and the other end is connected to a single-ended output signal.

[0007] Further, the auxiliary tube pair decoupling capacitor comprises: a capacitor array structure with a tunable capacitance.

[0008] Further, the capacitance of the auxiliary tube pair decoupling capacitor is 3 to 7 times the capacitance of the amplification tube pair decoupling capacitor.

[0009] Further, the gate bias voltage of the auxiliary tube pair is 100-200 millivolts lower than the gate bias voltage of the amplification tube pair.

[0010] Further, the auxiliary tube pair is implemented by multiple sub-tubes, and the switching of the multiple sub-tubes is controlled by a digital enable signal.

[0011] Further, the gate bias voltage of the auxiliary tube pair is set to make the auxiliary tube pair work in deep AB class.

[0012] In a second aspect, the application also provides a millimeter wave radio frequency transceiver, which comprises the millimeter wave radio frequency power amplifier of the first aspect.

[0013] In a third aspect, the application also provides a millimeter wave beamformer, which comprises the millimeter wave radio frequency power amplifier of the first aspect.

[0014] In a fourth aspect, the application also provides a 5G millimeter wave base station, which comprises the millimeter wave radio frequency transceiver of the second aspect and the millimeter wave beamformer of the third aspect.

[0015] Fifthly, this application also provides a satellite interconnection system, the system including a millimeter-wave radio frequency transceiver as described in the second aspect and a millimeter-wave beamformer as described in the third aspect.

[0016] The millimeter-wave radio frequency power amplifier and millimeter-wave radio frequency transceiver provided in this application include: an amplifying transistor pair, a cascode transistor pair, a DC blocking capacitor for the amplifying transistor pair, a bias resistor, a grounding capacitor, a parallel capacitor, an output balun, and an auxiliary transistor pair and an auxiliary transistor pair DC blocking capacitor; the input differential signal is connected to the gates of the amplifying transistor pair and the auxiliary transistor pair via the DC blocking capacitors of the auxiliary transistor pair and the amplifying transistor pair; the sources of both the auxiliary transistor pair and the amplifying transistor pair are grounded; the drain of the first amplifying transistor and the source of the first cascode transistor... The drain of the first auxiliary transistor and the second amplifying transistor are all connected; the drain of the second amplifying transistor, the source of the second cascode transistor, and the drain of the second auxiliary transistor are all connected; the gates of the cascode transistor pair are connected; the gate bias voltage of the cascode transistor is connected to the gate of the cascode transistor pair through a bias resistor, and the other end of the grounding capacitor is connected to the gate of the cascode transistor pair; the drain of the cascode transistor pair is connected to a parallel capacitor and the primary coil inductance of the output balun, and one end of the secondary coil inductance of the output balun is grounded, while the other end is connected to the single-ended output signal. This application can improve the OP1dB of the RF power amplifier without increasing the operating voltage of the power amplifier. Attached Figure Description

[0017] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the specific embodiments of this application or the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the specific embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are some embodiments of this application. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained from these drawings without creative effort.

[0018] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a common-source cascode differential amplifier in the prior art;

[0019] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the structure of a millimeter-wave radio frequency power amplifier provided in this application embodiment;

[0020] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of another millimeter-wave radio frequency power amplifier provided in this application embodiment;

[0021] Figure 4 A simulation result diagram of a common-source cascode differential amplifier provided in this application embodiment;

[0022] Figure 5The simulation results diagram is shown for a millimeter-wave radio frequency power amplifier provided in the embodiments of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0023] The technical solutions of this application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the embodiments. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of this application, not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of this application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0024] The existing circuit structure of the common-source cascode differential amplifier is as follows: Figure 1 As shown, the CMOS transistors include amplifying transistor pair M1 and M2 and cascode transistors M3 and M4. The differential input signals VIP / VIN are amplified by a common-source cascode differential amplifier through DC blocking capacitors C1 and C2. The amplified differential signals are then converted into single-ended output signals VOUT by an output balun. Since the normal operating voltage between the source and drain of transistors M1 and M2 is relatively low, cascode transistors M3 and M4 are added to handle part of the power supply voltage. However, this impedance matching problem between the drain of the amplifying transistors and the source of the cascode transistors reduces the linearity of the amplifier, thus affecting the amplifier's OP1dB specification. Therefore, improving the OP1dB of the common-source cascode amplifier under low power supply voltage becomes a design challenge.

[0025] Based on this, embodiments of this application provide a millimeter-wave radio frequency power amplifier and a millimeter-wave radio frequency transceiver, which can improve the OP1dB of the radio frequency power amplifier without increasing the operating voltage of the power amplifier.

[0026] To facilitate understanding of this embodiment, a millimeter-wave radio frequency power amplifier disclosed in this application embodiment will first be described in detail.

[0027] This application provides a millimeter-wave radio frequency power amplifier, which includes: an amplifying transistor pair, a cascode transistor pair, a DC blocking capacitor for the amplifying transistor pair, a bias resistor, a grounding capacitor, a parallel capacitor, an output balun, and an auxiliary transistor pair and an auxiliary transistor pair DC blocking capacitor; the input differential signal is connected to the gates of the amplifying transistor pair and the auxiliary transistor pair via the DC blocking capacitors of the auxiliary transistor pair and the amplifying transistor pair; the sources of both the auxiliary transistor pair and the amplifying transistor pair are grounded; the drain of the first amplifying transistor, the source of the first cascode transistor, and the... The drains of the auxiliary transistors are all connected; the drains of the second amplifier transistor, the source of the second cascode transistor, and the drain of the second auxiliary transistor are all connected; the gates of the cascode transistor pair are connected; the gate bias voltage of the cascode transistor is connected to the gate of the cascode transistor pair through a bias resistor, and the other end of the grounding capacitor is connected to the gate of the cascode transistor pair; the drains of the cascode transistor pair are connected to the parallel capacitor and the primary coil inductor of the output balun, and one end of the secondary coil inductor of the output balun is grounded, and the other end is connected to the single-ended output signal.

[0028] See Figure 2 The diagram shows a structural schematic of a millimeter-wave radio frequency power amplifier, which includes: amplifying transistor pairs M1 and M2, auxiliary transistor pairs M3 and M4, cascode transistor pairs M5 and M6, amplifying transistor pairs DC blocking capacitors C1 and C2, auxiliary transistor pairs DC blocking capacitors C3 and C4, cascode transistor gate voltage bias resistor R1, cascode transistor gate-to-ground capacitor C5 (i.e., the aforementioned grounding capacitor), cascode transistor output parallel capacitor C6, and output baluns L1 and L2.

[0029] The input differential signal VIP / VIN is connected to the gates of transistors M1, M2, M3, and M4 via DC blocking capacitors C1, C2, C3, and C4. The sources of transistors M1, M2, M3, and M4 are connected together and grounded. The drains of transistors M1 and M3 are connected to the source of transistor M5. The drains of transistors M2 and M4 are connected to the source of transistor M6. The gates of transistors M5 and M6 are connected. The gate bias voltage Vb_cas of the cascode transistor is connected to the gates of transistors M5 and M6 via bias resistor R1. One end of capacitor C5 is grounded, and the other end is connected to the gates of transistors M5 and M6. The drains of transistors M5 and M6 are connected to the parallel capacitor C6 of the cascode transistor output and the primary coil inductor L1 of the output balun. One end of the secondary coil inductor of the output balun is grounded, and the other end is connected to the single-ended output signal VOUT.

[0030] Compared to the conventional cascode amplifier structure, this embodiment adds auxiliary transistor pairs M3 and M4 and their corresponding DC blocking capacitors C3 and C4. The values ​​of the DC blocking capacitors C3 and C4 for the auxiliary transistor pairs M3 and M4 cannot be the same as those for the DC blocking capacitors C1 and C2 for the amplifying transistor pairs M1 and M2. The values ​​of the DC blocking capacitors C3 and C4 for the auxiliary transistor pairs M3 and M4 must be much larger than those for the amplifying transistor pairs M1 and M2; for example, the capacitance value of the auxiliary transistor pairs' DC blocking capacitors must be 3 to 7 times that of the amplifying transistor pairs' DC blocking capacitors. The gate bias voltage of the auxiliary transistor pairs M3 and M4 must be lower than that of the amplifying transistor pairs M1 and M2; for example, the gate bias voltage of the auxiliary transistor pairs must be 100-200 millivolts lower than that of the amplifying transistor pairs. Thus, with the help of auxiliary transistors M3 and M4 and their corresponding DC blocking capacitors C3 and C4, the power amplifier in this embodiment can provide a higher OP1dB than a conventional common-source cascode amplifier.

[0031] In a preferred embodiment, the aforementioned auxiliary transistor-to-transistor DC blocking capacitors may include a capacitor array structure with tunable capacitance. That is, the DC blocking capacitors C3 and C4 of the aforementioned auxiliary transistor pairs M3 and M4 can be designed as a capacitor array structure with tunable capacitance, such as... Figure 3 As shown, the OP1dB of the power amplifier can be dynamically adjusted by adjusting the values ​​of the DC blocking capacitors C3 and C4.

[0032] In a preferred embodiment, the aforementioned auxiliary tube-to-tube pair is implemented using multiple sub-tubes, and the switching of the multiple sub-tubes is controlled by a digital enable signal to achieve flexible control.

[0033] The formula for the output power of a power amplifier is as follows:

[0034] ;

[0035] When a power amplifier operates at a low supply voltage, its output voltage swing is limited by the low supply voltage, resulting in a small maximum output voltage swing that cannot be increased, thus leading to low output power. According to the output power formula above, to increase the output power of a power amplifier, its maximum output current can be increased.

[0036] Specific measures such as Figure 2As shown, the gate bias voltage setting requirement for the aforementioned auxiliary transistor pair is to make the auxiliary transistor pair operate in deep Class AB. Specifically, because the bias voltage settings for auxiliary transistor pairs M3 and M4 are relatively low, they operate in deep Class AB (Class AB power amplifier circuits are a combination of Class A and Class B, where the transistors have both on and off states during operation; the advantage of this circuit is low distortion and high efficiency). As the differential input signal gradually increases, the operating regions of the amplifier transistor pair M1 and M2 shift from the linear region to the saturation region, and their drain output current no longer increases. At this time, the operating regions of the auxiliary transistor pair M3 and M4 shift from deep Class AB to shallow Class AB, and their drain output current continuously increases. The differential input signal VIN / VIP reaches the amplifier transistor pair M1 and M2 through DC blocking capacitors C1 and C2, and reaches the auxiliary transistor pair M3 and M4 through DC blocking capacitors C3 and C4. The values ​​of C3 and C4 are much larger than those of C1 and C2. Due to the voltage division effect of the equivalent resistance of the DC blocking capacitor, the signal amplitude of the input signal reaching the gate of the amplifier tube is smaller than that reaching the gate of the auxiliary tube. As a result, the time for the amplifier tubes M1 and M2 to enter the saturation region is longer. During this period, the drain output current of the auxiliary tubes M3 and M4 will also become larger.

[0037] Because the drains of amplifying transistor M1 and auxiliary transistor M3 are connected, and the drains of amplifying transistor M2 and auxiliary transistor M4 are connected, the total maximum output current of the amplifier will increase, and the output power of the amplifier will also increase, thereby improving the OP1dB of the power amplifier at low supply voltages. If the DC blocking capacitors C3 and C4 are designed as a capacitor array structure with adjustable capacitance, such as... Figure 3 As shown, the output current of the drain of the auxiliary transistors M3 and M4 will also be tuned accordingly, thereby tuning the OP1dB of the power amplifier.

[0038] Assuming a given low supply voltage of 1.2V, Figure 1 The simulated OP1dB value of a common-source cascode differential amplifier with a conventional structure at 29.5GHz in the millimeter-wave band is 13.4dBm. Figure 4 As shown. Using the technique in this embodiment, Figure 2 The simulated OP1dB value of the power amplifier with the medium circuit structure at the 29.5GHz millimeter-wave frequency point is 15.7dBm, such as... Figure 5 As shown. A comparison reveals that... Figure 2 The OP1dB of the structural power amplifier has been significantly improved.

[0039] Based on the above-described millimeter-wave radio frequency power amplifier embodiments, this application also provides a millimeter-wave radio frequency transceiver, which includes the millimeter-wave radio frequency power amplifier as described above.

[0040] The millimeter-wave radio frequency transceiver provided in this application has the same implementation principle and technical effect as the aforementioned amplifier embodiment. For the sake of brevity, any parts of the millimeter-wave radio frequency transceiver not mentioned in the embodiment section can be referred to the corresponding content in the aforementioned amplifier embodiment.

[0041] Based on the above-described millimeter-wave radio frequency power amplifier embodiments, this application also provides a millimeter-wave beamformer, which includes the millimeter-wave radio frequency power amplifier as described above.

[0042] The millimeter-wave beamformer provided in this application embodiment has the same implementation principle and technical effect as the aforementioned amplifier embodiment. For the sake of brevity, any parts of the millimeter-wave beamformer embodiment not mentioned in the aforementioned amplifier embodiment can be referred to the corresponding content.

[0043] Based on the above embodiments of millimeter-wave radio frequency transceivers and millimeter-wave beamformers, this application also provides a 5G millimeter-wave base station, which includes the millimeter-wave radio frequency transceiver and the millimeter-wave beamformer as described above.

[0044] The 5G millimeter-wave base station provided in this application embodiment has the same implementation principle and technical effect as the aforementioned amplifier embodiment. For the sake of brevity, any parts not mentioned in the 5G millimeter-wave base station embodiment can be referred to the corresponding content in the aforementioned amplifier embodiment.

[0045] Based on the above-described millimeter-wave radio frequency transceiver and millimeter-wave beamformer embodiments, this application also provides a satellite interconnection system, which includes the millimeter-wave radio frequency transceiver and the millimeter-wave beamformer as described above.

[0046] The satellite interconnection system provided in this application embodiment has the same implementation principle and technical effect as the aforementioned amplifier embodiment. For the sake of brevity, any parts of the satellite interconnection system embodiment not mentioned in the previous embodiment can be referred to the corresponding content in the aforementioned amplifier embodiment.

[0047] In the description of this application, it should be noted that the terms "center," "upper," "lower," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "inner," and "outer," etc., indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings. They are used only for the convenience of describing this application and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation. Therefore, they should not be construed as limitations on this application. Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," and "third" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance.

[0048] Finally, it should be noted that the above-described embodiments are merely specific implementations of this application, used to illustrate the technical solutions of this application, and not to limit them. The protection scope of this application is not limited thereto. Although this application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that any person skilled in the art can still modify or easily conceive of changes to the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments, or make equivalent substitutions for some of the technical features, within the technical scope disclosed in this application. Such modifications, changes, or substitutions do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, and should all be covered within the protection scope of this application. Therefore, the protection scope of this application should be determined by the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A millimeter-wave radio frequency power amplifier, characterized in that, The millimeter-wave radio frequency power amplifier includes: amplifying transistor pair, cascode transistor pair, amplifying transistor pair DC blocking capacitor, bias resistor, grounding capacitor, parallel capacitor, output balun, and auxiliary transistor pair and auxiliary transistor pair DC blocking capacitor. The input differential signal is connected to the gates of the amplifier pair and the auxiliary pair via the DC blocking capacitors of the auxiliary and amplifier pairs; the sources of both the auxiliary and amplifier pairs are grounded; the drain of the first amplifier, the source of the first cascode, and the drain of the first auxiliary transistor are all connected; the drain of the second amplifier, the source of the second cascode, and the drain of the second auxiliary transistor are all connected; the gates of the cascode pairs are connected; the gate bias voltage of the cascode is connected to the gate of the cascode pair via the bias resistor, and the other end of the grounding capacitor is connected to the gate of the cascode pair; the drain of the cascode pair is connected to the parallel capacitor and the primary coil inductor of the output balun; one end of the secondary coil inductor of the output balun is grounded, and the other end is connected to the single-ended output signal; The auxiliary tube-to-tube DC blocking capacitor includes: a capacitor array structure with adjustable capacitor size; The capacitance value of the auxiliary tube-to-tube DC blocking capacitor is 3 to 7 times the capacitance value of the amplifying tube-to-tube DC blocking capacitor. The gate bias voltage of the auxiliary transistor pair is 100-200 millivolts lower than that of the amplifying transistor pair. The auxiliary tube pair is implemented using multiple sub-tubes, and the switching of the multiple sub-tubes is controlled by a digital enable signal; The gate bias voltage setting requirement for the auxiliary transistor pair is to enable the auxiliary transistor pair to operate in deep AB class.

2. A millimeter-wave radio frequency transceiver, characterized in that, The millimeter-wave radio frequency transceiver includes the millimeter-wave radio frequency power amplifier as described in claim 1.

3. A millimeter-wave beamformer, characterized in that, The millimeter-wave beamformer includes the millimeter-wave radio frequency power amplifier as described in claim 1.

4. A 5G millimeter-wave base station, characterized in that, The 5G millimeter-wave base station includes the millimeter-wave radio frequency transceiver as described in claim 2 and the millimeter-wave beamformer as described in claim 3.

5. A satellite interconnection system, characterized in that, The system includes the millimeter-wave radio frequency transceiver as described in claim 2 and the millimeter-wave beamformer as described in claim 3.

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