# US 10,374,559 B2 · Methods related to fast turn-on of radio-frequency amplifiers

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- Number: US 10,374,559 B2
- Document ID: US10374559B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 15/729,654
- Filed: 2017-10-10
- Published: 2018-02-01
- Granted: 2019-08-06
- Earliest claimed: 2014-07-14
- Assignees: Skyworks Solutions, Inc.
- Applicants: Skyworks Solutions, Inc.
- Inventors: Lui Lam; Vinu Govind
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10374559B2

## CPC

- H03F 3/193: with field-effect devices (H03F3/195 takes precedence)
- H03F 1/0277: {Selecting one or more amplifiers from a plurality of amplifiers}
- H03F 1/086: {with FET's}
- H03F 3/72: Gated amplifiers, i.e. amplifiers which are rendered operative or inoperative by means of a control signal
- H03F 3/16: with field-effect devices
- H03F 3/1935: {with junction-FET devices}
- H03F 2200/231: the input of an amplifier can be switched on or off by a switch to amplify or not an input signal
- H03F 2200/294: the amplifier being a low noise amplifier [LNA]
- H03F 2200/451: the amplifier being a radio frequency amplifier
- H03F 2203/7215: the gated amplifier being switched on or off by a switch at the input of the amplifier
- H03F: AMPLIFIERS

## Abstract

Circuits, methods and devices are disclosed, related to fast turn-on of radio-frequency amplifiers. In some embodiments, a method for amplifying a radio-frequency signal includes providing an amplification path implemented to amplify an radio-frequency signal, where the amplification path includes a switch and an amplifier. In some embodiments, each of the switch and the amplifier are configured to be ON or OFF to thereby enable or disable the amplification path, respectively. In some embodiments, the method includes providing a compensation circuit coupled to the amplifier, where the compensation circuit is configured to compensate for a slow transition of the amplifier between its ON and OFF states resulting from a signal applied to the switch.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for amplifying a radio-frequency signal, the method comprising:
providing an amplification path to amplify a radio-frequency signal, the amplification path including a switch and an amplifier, the switch and the amplifier each configured to be ON or OFF to thereby enable or disable the amplification path, respectively; and
providing a compensation circuit coupled to a gate node of the amplifier, the compensation circuit configured to compensate for a slow transition of the amplifier between its ON and OFF states resulting from a signal applied to the switch.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1 further comprising implementing a DC blocking capacitance between the switch and the amplifier of the amplification path.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2 wherein the switch and the amplifier each includes a field-effect transistor having a gate, a source, and a drain.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The method of claim 3 wherein the field-effect transistor switch is configured to be in the ON state to allow passage of the radio-frequency signal between the source and the drain upon an application of a positive edge switch signal to the gate.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4 wherein the field-effect transistor amplifier is configured to receive the radio-frequency signal from the field-effect transistor switch and the DC blocking capacitance at its gate and output the amplified radio-frequency signal through its drain or source.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5 wherein the amplified radio-frequency signal is output through the drain of the field-effect transistor amplifier.

### Claim 7 (depends on 5)

The method of claim 5 wherein the field-effect transistor amplifier is configured to be turned ON to allow amplification of the radio-frequency signal upon an application of a positive edge signal to the gate.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The method of claim 7 wherein the signal applied to the switch includes a negative edge signal applied to the source and the drain of the field-effect transistor switch to improve insertion loss performance of the field-effect transistor switch, the negative edge signal coupling with the field-effect transistor amplifier through the DC blocking capacitance to result in the slow transition of the field-effect transistor amplifier from the OFF state to the ON state.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The method of claim 8 wherein the compensation circuit includes a DC blocking capacitance coupled to the gate of the field-effect transistor amplifier.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The method of claim 9 further comprising configuring the DC blocking capacitance of the compensation circuit to provide a capacitive coupling of a positive edge compensation signal to the gate of the field-effect transistor amplifier to provide compensation for at least a portion of the capacitive coupled effect of the negative edge signal applied to the source and the drain of the field-effect transistor switch.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The method of claim 10 wherein the compensation provided by the capacitive coupling of a positive edge compensation signal results in a faster transition of the field-effect transistor amplifier from the OFF state to the ON state.

### Claim 12 (depends on 10)

The method of claim 10 further comprising configuring the capacitive coupling of the positive edge compensation signal to the gate of the field-effect transistor amplifier to substantially cancel the capacitive coupled effect of the negative edge signal applied to the source and the drain of the field-effect transistor switch.

### Claim 13 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1 wherein the amplifier includes a low-noise amplifier.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The method of claim 13 wherein the low-noise amplifier is configured to amplify received WLAN signals.

### Claim 15

A method for improving turn-on performance of an amplifier, the method comprising:
enabling a switch for an input path to the amplifier;
providing a first signal to the switch to reduce insertion loss;
enabling the amplifier; and
providing a second signal to a gate node of the amplifier to compensate for a delayed turn-on effect resulting from the first signal.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15 wherein enabling the switch for the input path includes providing a positive-edge signal to the switch.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The method of claim 16 wherein providing the first signal includes applying a negative-edge signal to the switch to reduce insertion loss.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The method of claim 17 wherein enabling the amplifier includes providing a positive-edge enabling signal to the amplifier.

### Claim 19 (depends on 18)

The method of claim 18 wherein providing the second signal includes applying a positive-edge compensating signal to the amplifier to compensate for the delayed turn-on effect resulting from the negative-edge signal applied to the switch.