Design of radio frequency power amplifier for 2.45 GHz IoT application using 0.18 µm CMOS technology
Microelectronics International
ISSN: 1356-5362
Article publication date: 18 October 2022
Issue publication date: 13 November 2023
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to show that due to the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) industry in recent years, the demand for the higher integration of wireless communication systems with a higher data rate of transmission capacity and lower power consumption has increased tremendously. The radio frequency power amplifier (PA) design is getting more challenging and crucial. A PA for a 2.45 GHz IoT application using 0.18 µm complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology is presented in this paper.
Design/methodology/approach
The design consists of two stages, the driver and output stage, where both use a single-stage common source transistor configuration. In view of performance, the PA can deliver more than 20 dB gain from 2.4 GHz to 2.5 GHz.
Findings
The maximum output power achieved by PA is 13.28 dBm. As the PA design is targeted for Bluetooth low energy (BLE) transmitter use, a minimum of 10 dBm output power should be achieved by PA to transmit the signal in BLE standard. The PA exhibits a constant output third-order interception point of 18 dBm before PA becomes saturated after 10 dBm output power. The PA shows a peak power added efficiency of 17.82% at the 13.24 dBm output power.
Originality/value
The PA design exhibits good linearity up to 10 dBm out the PA design exhibits good linearity up to 10 dBm output power without sacrificing efficiency. At the operating frequency of 2.45 GHz, the PA exhibits a stability k-factor, the value of more than 1; thus, the PA design is considered unconditional stable. Besides, the PA shows the s-parameters performance of –7.91 dB for S11, –11.07 dB for S22 and 21.5 dB for S21.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work is entirely supported by Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Research University Incentive (RUI) 1001/PELECT/8014134 grant and Collaborative Research in Engineering, Science and Technology (CREST) R&D Project No. P16C1-17 with USM grant account No. 304/PELECT/6050378/C121. While the EDA tools were supported by Collaborative Microelectronic Design Excellence Center (CEDEC), Universiti Sains Malaysia and the 0.18 µm PDK Library was supported by Silterra Malaysia Sdn. Bhd.
Citation
Rhaffor, N., Ang, W.K., Packeer Mohamed, M.F., Rajendran, J., Mohd Noh, N., Mustaffa, M.T. and Hairi, M.H. (2023), "Design of radio frequency power amplifier for 2.45 GHz IoT application using 0.18 µm CMOS technology", Microelectronics International, Vol. 40 No. 4, pp. 246-254. https://doi.org/10.1108/MI-03-2022-0040
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited