Measurement Results for the Dynamic Supply CMOS RF Power Amplifier

This chapter presents the experimental characterization of the dynamic supply CMOS RF power amplifier whose design was the subject of Chap. 3. The integrated circuit occupies an area of 1.35 mm2. The circuit was designed for an operating frequency of 5.2 GHz, but measurements were also performed at 2.4 GHz. Two-tone measurement results at 2.4 and 5.2 GHz showed that the system can deliver over 16 dBm (40 mW) linear output power with efficiencies of 22.7% and 12.6%, respectively. Compared to a constant 2.5 V supply operation, the power amplifier operating with the dynamic supply delivers higher linear output power. Moreover, a relative efficiency improvement of a factor of 2.3 at 2.4 GHz and of a factor of 1.6 at 5.2 GHz at low output power levels is achieved. OFDM measurements at 2.4 GHz demonstrated that for an EVM lower than 3% and for an equal output power of 11 dBm (12.6 mW), the absolute improvement in efficiency is over 3.2%.