A low stress 20dBm power amplifier for LINC transmission with 50% peak PAE in 0.25 µm CMOS

A low stress 1-GHz 0.25µm CMOS power amplifier intended for Linear Amplification with Non-linear Components(LINC) transmission is presented. The class-D output stage is partially soft-switched with a stacked pseudoclass-E pre-amplifier driver for increased efficiency. Operating from a 2.5V supply, the amplifier achieves a 50% Power-Added Efficiency(PAE) with a 1-GHz CW signal at a peak output power of 20 dBm. Two tone measurements yield a PAE of 35% with inter-modulation components below 35dBc.