Devices and methods for detecting a saturation condition of a power amplifier

A method for detecting a saturation condition of a power amplifier, comprising:

• comparing a first base current of a first transistor of a cascode transistor pair of the power amplifier and a second base current of a second transistor of the cascode transistor pair to obtain a comparison value;
• and
• modifying one or more operating characteristics of the power amplifier based on the comparison value.

A wireless device comprising:

• an antenna configured to at least transmit a signal from a transceiver, the signal being based at least in part on a radio frequency input signal supplied to a power amplifier of the transceiver;
• and
• the transceiver including a power amplifier module, the power amplifier module including the power amplifier, a current comparator, and a saturation controller, the power amplifier including a cascode transistor pair, the cascode transistor pair including a first transistor and a second transistor, the current comparator configured to compare a base current of the first transistor and a base current of the second transistor to obtain a comparison value, the saturation controller configured to supply a reference signal to an operating module based on the comparison value to modify one or more operating characteristics of the power amplifier.