Back to results
US 8,797,103 B2Granted
Apparatus and methods for capacitive load reduction
AssigneeSkyworks Solutions, Inc.
InventorsDaniel Lee Kaczman, James Phillip Young
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Apparatus and methods for capacitive load reduction are disclosed. In one embodiment, a power amplifier system includes an envelope tracker configured to provide a supply voltage to a plurality of power amplifiers. The power amplifiers include power supply inputs electrically connected in a star configuration so as to reduce a capacitive load of the envelope tracker. The distributed capacitance of the power amplifiers is used to provide RF grounding so as to reduce the size of or eliminated the use of bypass capacitors.
Claims21
A mobile device comprising:
- a phone board;
- a multi-chip module disposed on the phone board, the multi-chip module including a plurality of power amplifiers formed on one or more power amplifier dies, the plurality of power amplifiers including at least three power amplifiers, each power amplifier having a supply input for receiving a power supply, the supply inputs of the plurality of power amplifiers electrically connected to one another by a first power supply network of the multi-chip module such that interconnect associated with each of the supply inputs of the power amplifiers meets at a first node, each of the plurality of power amplifiers including a first stage and a second stage, the first stage configured to drive the second stage, each of the plurality of power amplifiers including a first stage supply input, the first stage supply inputs electrically connected to a second power supply network such that interconnect associated with each of the first stage supply inputs of the power amplifiers meets at a second node;
- and
- an envelope tracking module disposed on the phone board, the envelope tracking module electrically connected to the first power supply network and configured to control a voltage level of the first power supply network, the envelope tracking module configured to electrically power the second stage of each of the plurality of power amplifiers.
1 more element
A power amplifier module comprising:
- a plurality of power amplifiers configured to amplify one or more radio frequency signals, the plurality of power amplifiers including at least three power amplifiers, each power amplifier having a supply input for receiving a power supply;
- a first power supply network electrically connected to the supply inputs of each of the plurality of power amplifiers such that a portion of trace associated with each of the supply inputs of the power amplifiers meets at a first node, each portion of trace including a spiral inductor configured to operate as a radio frequency choke;
- a first power supply pin electrically connected to the first node;
- and
- a second power supply network electrically connected to a first stage supply input of each of the plurality of power amplifiers such that a portion of trace associated with each of the first stage supply inputs of the power amplifiers meets at a second node.
2 more elements
A power amplifier module comprising:
- a plurality of power amplifiers configured to amplify one or more radio frequency signals, the plurality of power amplifiers including at least three power amplifiers, each power amplifier having a supply input for receiving a power supply;
- a first power supply network electrically connected to the supply inputs of each of the plurality of power amplifiers such that a portion of trace associated with each of the supply inputs of the power amplifiers meets at a first node, each portion of trace including a spiral inductor configured to operate as a radio frequency choke;
- and
- a first power supply pin electrically connected to the first node and having a distributed capacitance configured to operate as a low impedance path to radio frequency signals, the first power supply pin configured to receive a supply voltage from an envelope tracker having a modulation bandwidth, each spiral inductor sized such that a frequency associated with a resonance of the spiral inductor and the distributed capacitance is greater than the modulation bandwidth.
1 more element
A power amplifier module comprising:
- a plurality of power amplifiers configured to amplify one or more radio frequency signals, the plurality of power amplifiers including at least three power amplifiers, each power amplifier having a supply input for receiving a power supply;
- a first power supply network electrically connected to the supply inputs of each of the plurality of power amplifiers such that a portion of trace associated with each of the supply inputs of the power amplifiers meets at a first node, each portion of trace including a spiral inductor configured to operate as a radio frequency choke, each portion of trace associated with the supply inputs of the power amplifiers having a length in the range of about 500 μm to about 5,000 μm;
- and
- a first power supply pin electrically connected to the first node.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.