An Envelope Tracking Supply Modulator Utilizing a GaN-Based Integrated Four-Phase Switching Converter and Average Power Tracking-Based Switch Sizing With 85.7% Efficiency for 5G NR Power Amplifier

This article proposes a supply modulator (SM) that uses high switching frequency gallium-nitride (GaN) devices to achieve a four-phase fast step-down converter for the fast-tracking ability of the envelope tracking (ET). The ET signal is reshaped to generate an average power tracking (APT)-based sig...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	IEEE journal of solid-state circuits 2021-10, Vol.56 (10), p.3167-3176
Main Authors:	Hsu, Ya-Ting, Lin, Zong-Yi, Lee, Jia-Jyun, Chen, Ke-Horng
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	5G mobile communication Amplitude modulation Bandwidth Buck converters Efficiency Envelope tracking (ET) envelope tracking supply modulator (ETSM) gallium nitride (GaN) Gallium nitrides HEMTs integrated GaN driver Linear amplifiers multiphase control Peak to average power ratio Power amplifiers Switches Switching Switching converters Tracking
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Summary:	This article proposes a supply modulator (SM) that uses high switching frequency gallium-nitride (GaN) devices to achieve a four-phase fast step-down converter for the fast-tracking ability of the envelope tracking (ET). The ET signal is reshaped to generate an average power tracking (APT)-based signal to control the size of GaN switches to further increase light-load efficiency due to reduced switching loss. Moreover, a high-bandwidth and low-loss linear amplifier (LA) is used to supply the power amplifier (PA) to sufficiently provide fast-tracking speed for 5th generation (5G) NR ET. At a power of 3.5 W for 5G mobile phones, the peak efficiency that is tested with NR −130 MHz in the ET mode is as high as 85.7% over a wide load range.
ISSN:	0018-9200 1558-173X