High efficiency WCDMA power amplifier with Pulsed Load Modulation (PLM) technique

In wireless communication, high data rate complex modulation is used for spectral efficiency. However, power efficiency of power amplifier degrades when complex modulation is applied. Therefore, efficiency enhancement is necessary to maintain the performance. However, conventional efficiency enhancement schemes are nonlinear and performance improvement can only be optimized over a small range of power level. In order to preserve linearity and power efficiency, we propose a new digital power amplification technique "Pulsed Load Modulation (PLM)" for high efficiency and linear amplification. The PLM technique realizes load impedance modulation in digital fashion which is insensitive to device nonlinearity. Furthermore, the optimum power efficiency can be maintained over a wide range of output power. In this work, a PLM power amplifier module has been fabricated and to demonstrate the ability of PLM to provide high efficiency and linear amplification.