Linearization Circuit and Related Techniques
First Claim
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1. A linearizer circuit comprising:
- a divider circuit having an input and first and second outputs;
a first radio frequency (RF) signal path having an input and an output, the input being coupled to the first output of the divider circuit, the first RF signal path comprising a delay line having a predetermined length;
a second RF signal path having an input and an output, the input being coupled to the second output of the divider circuit, the second RF signal path comprising a transistor amplifier consisting of an odd number of gain stages; and
a combiner circuit having a first input, a second input, and an output, the first input of the combiner circuit being coupled to the output of the first RF signal path and the second input of the combiner circuit being coupled to the output of the second RF signal path.
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Abstract
Circuits and techniques to linearize the operation of an RF power amplifier are described. A linearizer circuit may include a non-amplification signal path which includes a delay line and an amplification signal path which includes at least one amplifier stage. In some embodiments, the amplification signal path may include an odd number of amplification stages. The linearizer may be used to precondition an input signal of an RF power amplifier in a manner that improves the overall linearity of operation.
24 Citations
29 Claims
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1. A linearizer circuit comprising:
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a divider circuit having an input and first and second outputs; a first radio frequency (RF) signal path having an input and an output, the input being coupled to the first output of the divider circuit, the first RF signal path comprising a delay line having a predetermined length; a second RF signal path having an input and an output, the input being coupled to the second output of the divider circuit, the second RF signal path comprising a transistor amplifier consisting of an odd number of gain stages; and a combiner circuit having a first input, a second input, and an output, the first input of the combiner circuit being coupled to the output of the first RF signal path and the second input of the combiner circuit being coupled to the output of the second RF signal path. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method for use in linearizing operation of an RF power amplifier, comprising:
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splitting a radio frequency (RF) input signal into first and second RF input signals; providing the first RF input signal to a first RF signal path; providing the second RF input signal to a second, different RF signal path, wherein the second RF signal path includes at least one active amplifier stage and the first RF signal path includes no active amplifier stages; providing a first RF output signal at an output of the first RF signal path to a first input of a combiner; providing a second RF output signal at an output of the second RF signal path to a second input of the combiner; combining the first and second RF output signals in the combiner to generate a combined RF output signal at an output of the combiner; and providing the combined RF output signal to the input of an RF power amplifier. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. An amplification system, comprising;
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a linearizer circuit comprising; a divider circuit having an input and first and second outputs; a first radio frequency (RF) signal path having an input and an output, the input of the first RF signal path being coupled to the first output of the divider circuit; a second RF signal path having an input and an output, the input of the second RF signal path being coupled to the second output of the divider circuit; and a combiner circuit coupled to the outputs of the first and second RF signal paths to combine output signals of the first and second RF signal paths to generate an output signal of the linearizer circuit; and a power amplifier coupled to receive the output signal of the linearizer circuit; wherein the power amplifier with the linearizer circuit operates more linearly than the power amplifier operating alone. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification