Integrated RF front end with stacked transistor switch
First Claim
1. A module comprising:
- at least one integrated RF Power Amplifier (PA) circuit;
wherein the at least one integrated RF PA circuit is incorporated into the module and further includes;
an input node to accept an input signal with respect to a reference voltage, the input node connected to a first gate of a first MOSFET, wherein a source of the first MOSFET is connected to the reference voltage;
one or more MOSFETs connected in series with the first MOSFET to form a transistor stack, wherein the first MOSFET comprises a bottom transistor of the transistor stack, and the one or more MOSFETs comprise intermediate transistors and/or a top transistor of the transistor stack, wherein the transistor stack is configured to control conduction between the reference voltage and an output drive node, and wherein the output drive node is connected to a drain of the top transistor of the transistor stack; and
one or more predominantly capacitive elements connected directly between a corresponding gate of the one or more MOSFETs and the reference voltage.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A monolithic integrated circuit (IC), and method of manufacturing same, that includes all RF front end or transceiver elements for a portable communication device, including a power amplifier (PA), a matching, coupling and filtering network, and an antenna switch to couple the conditioned PA signal to an antenna. An output signal sensor senses at least a voltage amplitude of the signal switched by the antenna switch, and signals a PA control circuit to limit PA output power in response to excessive values of sensed output. Stacks of multiple FETs in series to operate as a switching device may be used for implementation of the RF front end, and the method and apparatus of such stacks are claimed as subcombinations. An iClass PA architecture is described that dissipatively terminates unwanted harmonics of the PA output signal. A preferred embodiment of the RF transceiver IC includes two distinct PA circuits, two distinct receive signal amplifier circuits, and a four-way antenna switch to selectably couple a single antenna connection to any one of the four circuits.
352 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A module comprising:
- at least one integrated RF Power Amplifier (PA) circuit;
wherein the at least one integrated RF PA circuit is incorporated into the module and further includes; an input node to accept an input signal with respect to a reference voltage, the input node connected to a first gate of a first MOSFET, wherein a source of the first MOSFET is connected to the reference voltage; one or more MOSFETs connected in series with the first MOSFET to form a transistor stack, wherein the first MOSFET comprises a bottom transistor of the transistor stack, and the one or more MOSFETs comprise intermediate transistors and/or a top transistor of the transistor stack, wherein the transistor stack is configured to control conduction between the reference voltage and an output drive node, and wherein the output drive node is connected to a drain of the top transistor of the transistor stack; and one or more predominantly capacitive elements connected directly between a corresponding gate of the one or more MOSFETs and the reference voltage. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
- at least one integrated RF Power Amplifier (PA) circuit;
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7. A communication device comprising at least one integrated RF Power Amplifier (PA) circuit,
wherein the at least one integrated RF PA circuit is incorporated into the communication device and further includes: -
an input node to accept an input signal with respect to a reference voltage, the input node connected to a first gate of a first MOSFET, wherein a source of the first MOSFET is connected to the reference voltage; one or more MOSFETs connected in series with the first MOSFET to form a transistor stack, wherein the first MOSFET comprises a bottom transistor of the transistor stack, and the one or more MOSFETs comprise intermediate transistors and/or a top transistor of the transistor stack, wherein the transistor stack is configured to control conduction between the reference voltage and an output drive node, and wherein the output drive node is connected to a drain of the top transistor of the transistor stack; and one or more predominantly capacitive elements connected directly between a corresponding gate of the one or more MOSFETs and the reference voltage. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An RF front-end comprising at least one integrated RF Power Amplifier (PA) circuit and other RF front-end components,
wherein the at least one integrated RF PA circuit and other RF front-end components are incorporated into the RF front-end, the at least one integrated RF PA circuit further including: -
an input node to accept an input signal with respect to a reference voltage, the input node connected to a first gate of a first MOSFET, wherein a source of the first MOSFET is connected to the reference voltage; one or more MOSFETs connected in series with the first MOSFET to form a transistor stack, wherein the first MOSFET comprises a bottom transistor of the transistor stack, and the one or more MOSFETs comprise intermediate transistors and/or a top transistor of the transistor stack, wherein the transistor stack is configured to control conduction between the reference voltage and an output drive node, and wherein the output drive node is connected to a drain of the top transistor of the transistor stack; and one or more predominantly capacitive elements connected directly between a corresponding gate of the one or more MOSFETs and the reference voltage. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification