A 71% Relative Bandwidth Differential Integrated Power Amplifier With Optimized PAE <i>max</i> for 5G-NR FR1 Carrier Aggregation Applications

This paper proposes a wideband Power Amplifier (PA) integrated in 28nm FD-SOI CMOS technology dedicated to sub-6 GHz 5G with controlled PAEmax based on a variable harmonic load across its operating bandwidth. The PA achieves a gain between 31 and 34 dB, a Psat from 20.5 to 22 dBm in the operating bandwidth from 2.9 to 6.1 GHz. Thanks to the PAE control, a PAEmax between 27 and 35% is achieved along the entire operating bandwidth. Modulated 5G-NR FR1 signal measurements are performed with a Walsh-based DPD using an intra-band carrier aggregation scenario to showcase the PA robustness for contiguous carriers. For the first time to the best author’s knowledge, PAEmax control is demonstrated over a relative bandwidth of 71%.