Scalable periphery tunable matching power amplifier

A method of biasing a scalable periphery amplifier, the method comprising:

• providing a plurality of amplifiers of the scalable periphery amplifier, wherein each amplifier of the plurality of amplifiers of the scalable periphery amplifier comprises a plurality of transistors configured in a stacked arrangement and one or more gate capacitors connected between gates of one or more transistors of the plurality of transistors and a reference ground, the one or more gate capacitors being configured to allow gate voltages of the one or more transistors to vary along with radio frequency (RF) voltages at drains of the one or more transistors and control voltage drops across the one or more transistors;
• operatively coupling the plurality of amplifiers in a parallel arrangement;
• providing an input power range for an input signal to the plurality of amplifiers of the scalable periphery amplifier;
• providing a desired power gain of the scalable periphery amplifier;
• obtaining an expected output power range of the scalable periphery amplifier based on the desired power gain and the input power range, and
• based on the obtaining, activating one or more amplifiers from the plurality of amplifiers.

A method of amplifying an input signal, the method comprising:

• providing a plurality of amplifiers, wherein each amplifier of the plurality of amplifiers comprises a plurality of transistors configured in a stacked arrangement and one or more gate capacitors connected between gates of one or more transistors of the plurality of transistors and a reference ground, the one or more gate capacitors being configured to allow gate voltages of the one or more transistors to vary along with radio frequency (RF) voltages at drains of the one or more transistors and control voltage drops across the one or more transistors;
• operatively coupling the plurality of amplifiers in a parallel arrangement;
• providing a plurality of switches configured to selectively activate or deactivate the plurality of amplifiers;
• coupling a tunable matching network to an input port of the plurality of amplifiers;
• inputting an input signal to the tunable matching network;
• measuring the input signal power level;
• activating one or more amplifiers from the plurality of amplifiers based on the input signal power level and on a desired output signal power level, and
• adjusting an impedance of the tunable matching network in correspondence of an input signal power level shift in correspondence of further activating or deactivating of the one or more amplifiers from the plurality of amplifiers, wherein the further activating or deactivating of the one or more amplifiers is in correspondence of a desired output signal characteristic.

A method of affecting a class of operation of an scalable periphery amplifier, the method comprising:

• providing a plurality of amplifiers, wherein each amplifier of the plurality of amplifiers comprises a plurality of transistors configured in a stacked arrangement and one or more gate capacitors connected between gates of one or more transistors of the plurality of transistors and a reference ground, the one or more gate capacitors being configured to allow gate voltages of the one or more transistors to vary along with radio frequency (RF) voltages at drains of the one or more transistors and control voltage drops across the one or more transistors;
• operatively coupling the plurality of amplifiers in a parallel arrangement;
• providing a plurality of switches configured to selectively activate or deactivate the plurality of amplifiers;
• coupling a tunable matching network to an output port of the plurality of amplifiers;
• providing a desired class of operation of the scalable periphery amplifier
• tuning the tunable matching network;
• based on the tuning, adjusting a harmonic termination at the output of the plurality of amplifiers, and
• based on the adjusting, affecting a class of operation of the scalable periphery amplifier, wherein the affecting changes the class of operation of the SP amplifier to the desired class of operation.

A system comprising:

• an amplifying arrangement comprising one or more amplifying components connected with each other and adapted to be independently activated or deactivated, each amplifying component comprising one or more transistors configured to operate as amplifiers;
• an output tunable matching network operatively connected to an output of the amplifying arrangement, the tunable matching network being configured to adjust an output load impedance seen by the output of the amplifying arrangement;
• and
• control circuitry configured to independently activate or deactivate the one or amplifying components, thus varying a total output power from the amplifying arrangement,
• wherein at least one amplifying component of the one or more amplifying components comprises a stack of a plurality of transistors and one or more capacitors connected between gate terminals of respective one or more transistors of the plurality of transistors of the stack and a reference ground with the exception of an input transistor of the stack, the one or more capacitors being configured to control voltage drops across the plurality of transistors of the stack when the at least one amplifying component is activated and when the at least one amplifying component is deactivated.

An amplifier, comprising:

• a unit cell adapted to be selectively activated or deactivated, wherein the unit cell comprises:
• i) a stack of a plurality of transistors configured to operate as an amplifier;
• and
• ii) one or more gate capacitors connected to respective one or more transistors of the plurality of transistors;
• an output tunable matching network operatively connected between an output of the unit cell and an output load, wherein the tunable matching network is configured to adjust an output impedance seen by the output of the unit cell and match the output impedance to the output load;
• and
• an amplifier control circuitry configured to selectively activate or deactivate the unit cell, thus varying a total output power from the amplifier, wherein:
• an input transistor of the plurality of transistors in the stack is configured to receive an input signal of the unit cell;
• the one or more gate capacitors are connected between one or more gates of the respective one or more transistors of the plurality of transistors in the stack and a reference ground with the exception of the input transistor;
• and
• a gate capacitor of the one or more gate capacitors is configured to allow a gate voltage of a respective transistor of the one or more transistors to vary along with a radio frequency (RF) voltage at a drain of the respective transistor.

A method of amplification of a radio frequency (RF) signal, the method comprising:

• providing a scalable periphery amplifier of a single unit cell, wherein the single unit cell comprises a plurality of transistors configured in a stacked arrangement and one or more gate capacitors connected between gates of one or more transistors of the plurality of transistors and a reference ground, the one or more gate capacitors being configured to allow gate voltages of the one or more transistors to vary along with radio frequency (RF) voltages at drains of the one or more transistors and control voltage drops across the one or more transistors;
• coupling an output tunable matching network between an output of the single unit cell and an output load, wherein the output tunable matching network matches an output impedance of the scalable periphery amplifier to the output load;
• providing a desired output signal characteristic of the output of the single unit cell, and
• adjusting one or more of:
• a) the output tunable matching network, and b) a DC bias current of the single unit cell, wherein the adjusting is based on the desired output signal characteristic.

A method of affecting a class of operation of a scalable periphery amplifier, the method comprising:

• providing a scalable periphery amplifier of a single unit cell, wherein the single unit cell comprises a plurality of transistors configured in a stacked arrangement and one or more gate capacitors connected between gates of one or more transistors of the plurality of transistors and a reference ground, the one or more gate capacitors being configured to allow gate voltages of the one or more transistors to vary along with radio frequency (RF) voltages at drains of the one or more transistors and controlling voltage drops across the one or more transistors;
• providing a switch configured to selectively activate or deactivate the single unit cell;
• coupling a tunable matching network between an output port of the single unit cell and an output load;
• providing a desired class of operation of the scalable periphery amplifier
• tuning the tunable matching network;
• based on the tuning, adjusting a harmonic termination at the output of the single unit cell, and
• based on the adjusting, affecting a class of operation of the scalable periphery amplifier, wherein the affecting changes the class of operation of the SP amplifier to the desired class of operation.