High-frequency power amplifier and communication apparatus

• US 20050208909A1
• Filed: 03/10/2005
• Published: 09/22/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Collabo Innovations, Inc. (Wi-LAN Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Tateoka, Kazuki, Maya, Oki
• Granted Patent: US 7,256,653 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/127.100
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/0222 by using a signal derived from the input signal
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/30 Modifications of amplifiers to reduce influence of variations of temperature or supply voltage or other physical parameters in differential amplifiers H03F3/45479
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/302 in bipolar transistor amplifiers H03F1/303, H03F1/305, H03F1/307 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2200/504 the supply voltage or current being continuously controlled by a controlling signal, e.g. the controlling signal of a transistor implemented as variable resistor in a supply path for, an IC-block showed amplifier
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 2201/708 being temperature
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 3/004 Control by varying the supply voltage
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/361 Modulation using a single or unspecified number of carriers, e.g. with separate stages of phase and amplitude modulation

Abstract

A temperature compensation circuit 145 included in a collector voltage generation section 130a applies an offset voltage Vofs(T) to a power control signal Vctrl according to a device temperature. The resulting temperature compensation circuit output voltage Vctrl′ (T) is applied to a collector terminal of a bipolar transistor 110 through a voltage regulator 140 and a choke inductor 170.

Claims

1. A high-frequency power amplifier capable of minimizing a temperature dependence of an output power even in a saturation region of a bipolar transistor, the amplifier comprising:

a bipolar transistor;

a base bias circuit for applying a base voltage to the bipolar transistor; and

a collector voltage generation section for applying a collector voltage to the bipolar transistor, wherein

the collector voltage generation section includes a temperature compensation circuit for performing temperature compensation on a power control signal to be inputted.

2. The high-frequency power amplifier according to claim 1, wherein the collector voltage generation section applies, as a collector offset voltage, a voltage having a difference between a reference collector voltage at which a desired collector current is obtained at a reference temperature and a collector voltage required to obtain the desired collector current at actual temperature, to the reference collector voltage.

3. The high-frequency power amplifier according to claim 1, wherein the temperature compensation circuit includes:

a temperature compensation voltage source; and

an adder for adding an offset voltage to be outputted from the temperature compensation voltage source to the power control signal.

4. The high-frequency power amplifier according to claim 1, wherein the temperature compensation circuit includes:

a temperature compensation voltage source; and

a subtractor for subtracting an offset voltage to be outputted from the temperature compensation voltage source from the power control signal.

5. The high-frequency power amplifier according to claim 1, wherein the collector voltage generation section includes a voltage regulator.

6. The high-frequency power amplifier according to claim 1, wherein the collector voltage generation section includes a DC/DC converter.

7. The high-frequency power amplifier according to claim 1, wherein the collector voltage generation section includes:

an operational amplifier; and

a P-type field-effect transistor or a PNP bipolar transistor.

8. The high-frequency power amplifier according to claim 1, wherein the power control signal is an amplitude modulation signal.

9. The high-frequency power amplifier according to claim 1, wherein

there are a plurality of the bipolar transistors, and

the plurality of the bipolar transistors are connected in multiple stages.

10. A communication apparatus comprising:

a baseband circuit;

a converter for converting an output signal of the baseband circuit into an amplitude modulation signal and a phase modulation signal;

a collector voltage generation section including a temperature compensation circuit for performing temperature compensation on the amplitude modulation signal;

a voltage controlled oscillator for controlling an oscillatory frequency based on the phase modulation signal;

a bipolar transistor having a collector terminal and a base terminal, an output voltage of the collector voltage generation section being applied to the collector terminal and an output of the voltage controlled oscillator being inputted to the base terminal; and

a base bias circuit for applying a base voltage to the bipolar transistor.