A CMOS wide output voltage swing DM modulator for envelope tracking technique

Due to its low cost, fast speed but low power consumption and high integration, the CMOS technology has witnessed its own explosive development in recent years. Although the deep sub-micron CMOS technology has some limitations in power amplifier design, its advantages have always been attractive to researchers who have done their best to overcome these limitations. It has been reported that Class A, AB, C, D, E, F power amplifiers and some efficiency enhancement techniques have been successfully implemented in 0.35 mum CMOS process in the past few years.; However, research is rarely done on power amplifiers using efficiency enhancement techniques implemented in 0.18 mum and lower CMOS technology due to their break-down voltages being too low and the expected low output power. As exploratory research, in this thesis, a wide output voltage swing delta modulated (DM) modulator for the envelope tracking technique has been designed in 0.18 mum CMOS technology. Post-layout simulation indicates that the modulator achieved a bandwidth larger than 2.0 MHz, the output voltage range from 0 V to 1.6 V, and a maximum output power close to 500 mW.; As part of the modulator, a rail-to-rail input/output wide bandwidth op-amp and an envelope detector are also designed. The simulation results supported the design methodology.