RF power amplifier with total radiated power stabilization

• US 9,444,411 B2
• Filed: 03/18/2014
• Issued: 09/13/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qorvo International Pte. Ltd. (Qorvo, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Qorvo US, Inc. (Qorvo, Inc.)
• Inventors: Scott, Baker, Leipold, Dirk Robert Walter, Maxim, George
• Primary Examiner(s): Vuong, Quochien B
• Application Number:
  US14/218,953
• Publication Number:
  US 20140266452A1
• Time in Patent Office: 910 Days
• Field of Search: 455/114.2, 455/114.3, 455/115.1, 455/115.3, 455/126, 455/127.2, 455/127.3, 375/296, 375/297, 330/149, 330/254, 330/278, 330/291
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H01F 27/28 Coils; Windings; Conductive connections
• CPC Class Codes: H01F 27/385 for reducing harmonics
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/22 by use of cascode coupling, i.e. earthed cathode or emitter stage followed by earthed grid or base stage respectively
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/32 Modifications of amplifiers to reduce non-linear distortion by negative feedback H03F1/34
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/3241 using predistortion circuits H03F1/3211, H03F1/3217 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/34 Negative-feedback-circuit arrangements with or without positive feedback H03F1/02 - H03F1/30, H03F1/38 - H03F1/50, H03F3/50 take precedence ; for rejection of common mode signals H03F3/45479
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/19 with semiconductor devices only
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/195 in integrated circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/211 using a combination of several amplifiers H03F3/60 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/213 in integrated circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H03H 7/09 Filters comprising mutual inductance
• CPC Class Codes: H03H 7/1775 Parallel LC in shunt or branch path H03H7/1791 takes precedence

Abstract

A radio frequency (RF) amplification circuit and a closed-loop amplitude linearization circuit are disclosed. The RF amplification circuit amplifies an RF signal to generate an amplified RF signal. The RF amplification circuit and the closed-loop amplitude linearization circuit form a fast control loop and a slow control loop. The slow control loop estimates a total radiated power (TRP) from the RF amplification circuit to create a TRP estimate using a representation of the amplified RF signal, and controls a fast loop gain of the fast control loop based on the TRP estimate. The fast control loop applies a gain adjustment to the RF amplification circuit based on the fast loop gain and a difference between a target reference amplitude and a measured feedback amplitude. The gain adjustment controls amplitude distortion in the RF amplification circuit. The fast loop gain controls TRP-drift in the RF amplification circuit.

Claims

1. Circuitry comprising an IC package, which comprises:

a package interface coupled to upstream RF system circuitry;

an RF amplification circuit configured to amplify an RF signal to generate an amplified RF signal; and

a closed-loop gain linearization circuit, such that the RF amplification circuit and the closed-loop gain linearization circuit form a fast control loop and a slow control loop, wherein;

the slow control loop is configured to;

estimate a total radiated power (TRP) from the RF amplification circuit to create a TRP estimate using a representation of the amplified RF signal; and

control a fast loop gain of the fast control loop based on the TRP estimate; and

the fast control loop is configured to apply a gain adjustment to the RF amplification circuit based on the fast loop gain and a difference between a target reference amplitude and a measured feedback amplitude, wherein the gain adjustment controls amplitude distortion in the RF amplification circuit and the fast loop gain controls TRP-drift in the RF amplification circuit, wherein the TRP-drift is at least partially based on Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) variations presented to an output from the RF amplification circuit.

2. The circuitry of claim 1 wherein the package interface is configured to receive the RF signal and provide the amplified RF signal, wherein the slow control loop is further configured to endogenously estimate the TRP from the RF amplification circuit.

3. The circuitry of claim 1 wherein the amplitude distortion is at least partially based on amplitude variations of the RF signal.

4. The circuitry of claim 1 wherein a bandwidth of the slow control loop is less than about 100 hertz and a bandwidth of the fast control loop is greater than about 100 hertz and less than about one gigahertz.

5. The circuitry of claim 1 wherein the closed-loop gain linearization circuit comprises a gain error detection circuit configured to:

receive an amplitude reference signal and compute the target reference amplitude;

receive an amplitude feedback signal and compute the measured feedback amplitude; and

provide a gain error signal based on an amplitude difference between the amplitude reference signal and the amplitude feedback signal, such that the gain adjustment to the RF amplification circuit is further based on the gain error signal.

6. The circuitry of claim 5 wherein the closed-loop gain linearization circuit further comprises a variable gain RF amplifier configured to:

receive a first signal, which is representative of an amplified RF signal current of the amplified RF signal; and

provide an amplified feedback signal based on amplifying the first signal, wherein;

the amplitude feedback signal is based on the amplified feedback signal; and

a gain of the variable gain RF amplifier is based on the fast loop gain control signal.

7. The circuitry of claim 6 wherein the closed-loop gain linearization circuit further comprises a first harmonic filter configured to receive and filter the amplified feedback signal to provide a feedback signal, such that the amplitude feedback signal is further based on the feedback signal.

8. The circuitry of claim 5 wherein the closed-loop gain linearization circuit further comprises TRP control circuitry configured to:

estimate the TRP using a first signal and a second signal to provide the TRP estimate, wherein the amplified RF signal has an amplified RF signal voltage and an amplified RF signal current, such that the first signal is representative of the amplified RF signal current and the second signal is representative of the amplified RF signal voltage; and

provide a fast loop gain control signal based on the TRP estimate, such that control of the fast loop gain is via the fast loop gain control signal.

9. The circuitry of claim 8 wherein the TRP control circuitry is further configured to substantially ignore amplitude variations in the first signal and the second signal having a bandwidth greater than a bandwidth of the TRP-drift.

10. The circuitry of claim 8 wherein the closed-loop gain linearization circuit further comprises a variable gain RF amplifier configured to:

receive and amplify the second signal to provide an amplified feedback signal, such that the gain adjustment to the RF amplification circuit is further based on the amplified feedback signal; and

adjust a gain of the variable gain RF amplifier based on the fast loop gain control signal.

11. The circuitry of claim 8 wherein the closed-loop gain linearization circuit further comprises a variable gain baseband amplifier configured to:

receive and amplify a baseband signal, which is based on the first signal, to provide an amplitude feedback signal, such that the gain adjustment to the RF amplification circuit is further based on the amplitude feedback signal; and

adjust a gain of the variable gain baseband amplifier based on the fast loop gain control signal.

12. The circuitry of claim 8 wherein the closed-loop gain linearization circuit further comprises a variable gain baseband amplifier configured to:

receive and amplify a baseband signal, which is based on the second signal, to provide an amplitude feedback signal, such that the gain adjustment to the RF amplification circuit is further based on the amplitude feedback signal; and

adjust a gain of the variable gain baseband amplifier based on the fast loop gain control signal.

13. The circuitry of claim 1 wherein the closed-loop gain linearization circuit further comprises:

TRP control circuitry configured to estimate the TRP using an impedance computation signal and a reference impedance signal;

a reference impedance circuit having a reference impedance, such that the reference impedance signal is based on the reference impedance; and

an impedance computation circuit configured to provide the impedance computation signal based on a first signal and a second signal, wherein the amplified RF signal has an amplified RF signal voltage and an amplified RF signal current, such that the first signal is representative of the amplified RF signal voltage and the second signal is representative of the amplified RF signal current.

14. Circuitry comprising:

an RF amplification circuit configured to amplify an RF signal to generate an amplified RF signal; and

a closed-loop gain linearization circuit, such that the RF amplification circuit and the closed-loop gain linearization circuit form a fast control loop and a slow control loop, wherein;

the slow control loop includes a first programmable attenuator and a total radiated power (TRP) control circuit and is configured to control a slow loop gain of the slow control loop by adjusting the first programmable attenuator using the TRP control circuit based on aggregated loop error signal;

the fast control loop includes a second programmable attenuator and the TRP control circuit and is configured to control a fast loop gain of the fast control loop by adjusting the second programmable attenuator using the TRP control circuit based on the aggregated loop error signal; and

each of the first programmable attenuator and the second programmable attenuator is configured to apply a gain adjustment to the RF amplification circuit based on the slow loop gain and the fast loop gain, respectively, wherein the first programmable attenuator controls TRP-drift in the RF amplification circuit and the second programmable attenuator controls amplitude distortion in the RF amplification circuit.

15. The circuitry of claim 14 wherein:

the slow control loop and the fast control loop further include an aggregated loop power error detection circuit and an aggregated loop down-conversion circuit;

the first programmable attenuator is configured to provide a first attenuated feedback signal and the second programmable attenuator provides is configured to provide a second attenuated feedback signal;

the aggregated loop error detection circuit is configured to provide an aggregated loop power error signal based on a difference between the first attenuated feedback signal and the second attenuated feedback signal; and

the aggregated loop down-conversion circuit is configured to receive and down-convert the aggregated loop power error signal to provide the aggregated loop error signal.

16. Circuitry comprising:

an integrated circuit (IC) package having a package interface coupled to upstream RF system circuitry and configured to receive a radio frequency (RF) signal from the upstream RF system circuitry and provide an amplified RF signal;

an RF amplification circuit in the IC package and configured to amplify the RF signal to generate the amplified RF signal; and

a closed-loop gain linearization circuit in the IC package and configured to endogenously;

estimate a total radiated power (TRP) from the RF amplification circuit to create a TRP estimate of the amplified RF signal;

determine a measured feedback power based on the TRP estimate; and

apply a gain adjustment to the RF amplification circuit based on a power difference between a target reference power of the amplified RF signal and the measured feedback power, wherein the gain adjustment controls at least one of amplitude distortion in the RF amplification circuit and TRP-drift in the RF amplification circuit, wherein the TRP-drift is at least partially based on Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) variations presented to an output from the RF amplification circuit.

17. The circuitry of claim 16 wherein the amplitude distortion is at least partially based on amplitude variations of the RF signal.

18. The circuitry of claim 16 wherein a bandwidth of the TRP-drift is less than about 100 hertz and a bandwidth of the amplitude distortion is greater than about 100 hertz and less than about 2 gigahertz.

19. The circuitry of claim 16 wherein the closed-loop gain linearization circuit is further configured to establish the target reference power based on the RF signal.

20. The circuitry of claim 16 wherein the closed-loop gain linearization circuit comprises a gain error detection circuit configured to:

receive a power reference signal, which is based on the target reference power;

receive a power feedback signal, which is based on the measured feedback power; and

provide a gain error signal based on a power difference between the power reference signal and the power feedback signal, such that the gain adjustment to the RF amplification circuit is further based on the gain error signal.

21. The circuitry of claim 20 wherein the closed-loop gain linearization circuit further comprises:

a first harmonic filter configured to receive and filter a signal that is representative of an amplified RF signal current to provide a first feedback signal;

a second harmonic filter configured to receive and filter a signal that is representative of an amplified RF signal voltage to provide a second feedback signal; and

a delivered power estimation circuit configured to estimate the TRP using the first feedback signal and the second feedback signal, and provide the power feedback signal based on the TRP estimate, wherein the amplified RF signal has the amplified RF signal voltage and the amplified RF signal current.

22. The circuitry of claim 20 wherein the closed-loop gain linearization circuit further comprises:

a first harmonic filter configured to receive and filter a first signal that is representative of an amplified RF signal current to provide a feedback signal; and

a delivered power estimation circuit configured to;

receive a second signal that is representative of an amplified RF signal voltage;

substantially ignore amplitude variations in the second signal having a bandwidth greater than a bandwidth of the TRP-drift; and

estimate the TRP using the feedback signal and the second signal to provide the TRP estimate and provide the power feedback signal based on the TRP estimate, wherein the amplified RF signal has the amplified RF signal voltage and the amplified RF signal current.

23. The circuitry of claim 20 wherein the closed-loop gain linearization circuit further comprises:

a first harmonic filter configured to receive and filter a second signal that is representative of an amplified RF signal voltage to provide a feedback signal; and

a delivered power estimation circuit configured to;

receive a first signal that is representative of an amplified RF signal current;

substantially ignore amplitude variations in the first signal having a bandwidth greater than a bandwidth of the TRP-drift; and

estimate the TRP using the feedback signal and the first signal to provide the TRP estimate and provide the power feedback signal based on the TRP estimate, wherein the amplified RF signal has the amplified RF signal voltage and the amplified RF signal current.

24. The circuitry of claim 20 wherein the closed-loop gain linearization circuit further comprises:

a delivered power estimation circuit configured to estimate the TRP using a first signal and a second signal to provide the TRP estimate, wherein the amplified RF signal has an amplified RF signal voltage and an amplified RF signal current, such that the second signal is representative of the amplified RF signal voltage and the first signal is representative of the amplified RF signal current;

substantially ignore amplitude variations in the first signal having a bandwidth greater than a bandwidth of the TRP-drift; and

gain correction circuitry configured to receive the gain error signal and apply the gain adjustment to the RF amplification circuit based on the gain error signal.

25. The circuitry of claim 20 wherein the closed-loop gain linearization circuit further comprises a delivered power estimation circuit configured to provide and adjust a first open-loop control signal to the gain error detection circuit to properly align a closed loop response of the RF amplification circuit with an open loop response of the RF amplification circuit.

26. The circuitry of claim 20 wherein the closed-loop gain linearization circuit further comprises a delivered power estimation circuit, which is configured to provide and adjust a first open-loop control signal to the gain error detection circuit, and further configured to provide and adjust a second open-loop to a gain calibration circuit.

27. The circuitry of claim 20 wherein the closed-loop gain linearization circuit further comprises:

a first harmonic filter configured to receive and filter a signal that is representative of an amplified RF signal current to provide a first feedback signal;

a second harmonic filter configured to receive and filter a signal that is representative of an amplified RF signal voltage to provide a second feedback signal; and

a delivered power estimation circuit comprising;

a first envelope detector configured to receive and detect the first feedback signal to provide a detected current signal;

a second envelope detector configured to receive and detect the second feedback signal to provide a detected voltage signal; and

a power computation circuit configured to estimate the TRP using the detected current signal and the detected voltage signal, and provide the power feedback signal based on the TRP estimate, wherein the amplified RF signal has the amplified RF signal voltage and the amplified RF signal current.

28. The circuitry of claim 20 wherein the RF amplification circuit comprises an output match filter configured to provide the amplified RF signal and the closed-loop gain linearization circuit further comprises:

a first harmonic filter configured to receive and filter a signal that is representative of an amplified RF signal current to provide a first feedback signal; and

a delivered power estimation circuit comprising;

a first envelope detector configured to receive and detect the first feedback signal to provide a detected current signal;

a second envelope detector configured to receive and detect the amplified RF signal to provide a detected voltage signal; and

a power computation circuit configured to estimate the TRP using the detected current signal and the detected voltage signal, and provide the power feedback signal based on the TRP estimate, wherein the amplified RF signal has the amplified RF signal current.

29. The circuitry of claim 20 wherein the closed-loop gain linearization circuit further comprises:

a first harmonic filter configured to receive and filter a first signal that is representative of an amplified RF signal current to provide a feedback signal; and

a delivered power estimation circuit comprising;

an envelope detector configured to receive and detect the feedback signal to provide a detected current signal;

a VSWR detector configured to receive the feedback signal and a second signal, which is representative of an amplified RF signal voltage, determine a VSWR of the RF amplification circuit based on the feedback signal and the second signal, and provide a voltage based VSWR signal based on the VSWR; and

a power computation circuit configured to estimate the TRP using the detected current signal and the voltage based VSWR signal, and provide the power feedback signal based on the TRP estimate.

30. The circuitry of claim 20 wherein the closed-loop gain linearization circuit further comprises:

a first harmonic filter configured to receive and filter a first signal that is representative of an amplified RF signal voltage to provide a feedback signal; and

a delivered power estimation circuit comprising;

an envelope detector configured to receive and detect the feedback signal to provide a detected voltage signal;

a VSWR detector configured to receive the feedback signal and a second signal, which is representative of an amplified RF signal current, determine a VSWR of the RF amplification circuit based on the feedback signal and the second signal, and provide a current based VSWR signal based on the VSWR; and

a power computation circuit configured to estimate the TRP using the detected voltage signal and the current based VSWR signal, and provide the power feedback signal based on the TRP estimate.