Complementary predistorter in CMOS differential power amplifier

For adaptive improvement of linearity above a 12 dB PAPR for 64QAM WiMAX, a complementary feedback loop in a differential amplifier is adopted as a pre-distorter that is realized using an NMOS cell operating in the triode region in order to compensate the gm₃, the third order transconductance, of the differential amplifier. The power amplifier has been implemented in 0.18 μm CMOS technology, and the chip size is 870 μm × 1050 μm. The proposed PA obtains the 42% efficiency at P1dB while improving the IMD by more than 10 dB above 15 dBm output power levels. It shows a gain of as much as 14.5 dB, and a return loss below −12 dB for 2.3–2.4 GHz operation. Finally, the fabricated PA complies with the spurious emission of WiMAX standards up to 22 dBm. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 52:833–836, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.25062