A State-of-the-Art Review on CMOS Radio Frequency Power Amplifiers for Wireless Communication Systems

Abstract

Wireless communication systems have undergone significant development in recent years, particularly with the transition from fourth generation (4G) to fifth generation (5G). As the number of wireless devices and mobile data usage increase, there is a growing need for enhancements and upgrades to the current wireless communication systems. CMOS transceivers are increasingly being explored to meet the requirements of the latest wireless communication protocols and applications while achieving the goal of system-on-chip (SoC). The radio frequency power amplifier (RFPA) in a CMOS transmitter plays a crucial role in amplifying RF signals and transmitting them from the antenna. This state-of-the-art review paper presents a concise discussion of the performance metrics that are important for designing a CMOS PA, followed by an overview of the trending research on CMOS PA techniques that focuses on efficiency, linearity, and bandwidth enhancement.

High-Efficiency GaN-Based Power Amplifiers for Envelope Nonlinearities’ Mitigation in VHF Wideband Polar-Mode Transmitters

“…The use of GaN HEMT power semiconductor devices at VHF is unusual, as the latest Si-LDMOS devices at these frequencies can provide very good results in terms of power efficiency at a lower cost. Therefore, there is a scarcity of published scientific works based on GaN technology at these frequency bands, and it is difficult to find published results to compare with those obtained in this work because most of the developments are currently focused on the higher-frequency bands (above UHF) and ET PA architectures [42][43][44]. However, there are new communication services, such as the one addressed in this work (satellite communications at the VHF band), that are currently under development and can benefit from using GaN technology in RF power circuits.…”