High Efficiency RFIC Power Amplifier

The energy consumption by Radiofrequency Integrated Circuit Power Amplifiers (RFIC PAs) in mobile handsets is a major factor determining the battery life of this equipment. Any increase in the power efficiency of RF PAs will reflect significantly as an increase in the battery life of the portable wireless devices. This work addresses the need to improve the energy efficiency performance by controlling the RF PA section in a fashion that results in the minimum current consumption as a function of the transmitted power level. Although this type of hardware reconfiguration has been proposed in the literature, the techniques proposed so far are activated at discrete power thresholds. The PA reconfiguration that will be implemented in this work will operate continuously over a certain power range, which is expected to improve the overall energy efficiency performance. This will translate into Skyworks Solutions’ RFIC PA components that will be more attractive to the developers of mobile communication equipment

Faculty Supervisor:

Nicolas Constantin

Student:

Partner:

Skyworks Solutions Inc

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Manufacturing; Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

École de technologie supérieure

Program: