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US 8,410,848 B2Granted
Enhanced doherty amplifier with asymmetrical semiconductors
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsGregory Bowles, Martin O'Flaherty, Scott Widdowson, John Ilowski
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosures an amplification unit which comprises a first amplifier and a second amplifier connected in parallel, the first amplifier and the second amplifier comprising semiconductor devices that are not the same amplifier design. The present application also discloses a signal input line connected to the first amplifier and the second amplifier. A signal output line is also disclosed which is connected to the first amplifier and the second amplifier.
Claims20
An amplification unit comprising:
- a signal splitter, wherein the signal splitter is operable to split an input signal into a first signal and a second signal such that the two resulting signal portions are in quadrature;
- a main amplifier, wherein the main amplifier is formed from at least one semiconductor having a first material composition and the main amplifier is operable to amplify the first signal to produce a first amplified signal;
- an auxiliary amplifier, wherein the auxiliary amplifier is formed from at least one semiconductor based on silicon (Si) semiconductor materials, wherein the first material composition is substantially different from the second material composition, and the auxiliary amplifier is operable to amplify the second signal to produce a second amplified signal;
- and
- a signal combiner, wherein the signal combiner is operable to combine the first amplified signal and the second amplified signal, and realign the phase of the first amplified signal and second amplified signal.
2 more elements
A method of amplifying an input signal comprising:
- separating the input signal into a first portion and a second portion;
- amplifying the first portion using a main amplifier and the second portion using an auxiliary amplifier, wherein the main amplifier is formed from at least one semiconductor having a first material composition, and the auxiliary amplifier is formed from at least one semiconductor having a second material composition, wherein the first material composition is different from the second material composition;
- and
- combining the amplified first portion and the amplified second portion,
- wherein the main amplifier is formed from at least one semiconductor using at least one of gallium arsenide (GaAs) heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) technology, gallium arsenide (GaAs) heterojunction field effect transistor (HFET) technology, and gallium nitride (GaN) heterojunction field effect transistor (HFET) technology, and the auxiliary amplifier is formed from at least one semiconductor using at least one of laterally diffused metal oxide semiconductor (LOMOS) technology and complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology.
2 more elements
An amplification unit comprising:
- a signal splitter, wherein the signal splitter is operable to split an input signal into a first signal and a second signal such that the two resulting signal portions are in quadrature;
- a main amplifier, wherein the main amplifier is formed from at least one semiconductor having a first material composition and is operable to amplify the first signal to produce a first amplified signal;
- an auxiliary amplifier, wherein the auxiliary amplifier is formed from at least one semiconductor having a second material composition, wherein the first material composition is different from the second material composition, and the auxiliary amplifier is operable to amplify the second signal to produce a second amplified signal;
- and
- a signal combiner, wherein the signal combiner is operable to combine the first amplified signal and the second amplified signal, and realign the phase of the first amplified signal and second amplified signal,
- wherein the main amplifier is formed from at least one semiconductor using at least one of gallium arsenide (GaAs) heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) technology, gallium arsenide (GaAs) heterojunction field effect transistor (HFET) technology, and gallium nitride (GaN) heterojunction field effect transistor (HFET) technology, and the auxiliary amplifier is formed from at least one semiconductor using at least one of laterally diffused metal oxide semiconductor (LDMOS) technology and complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.