CIE Components in Electronics
Nujira Ltd, a leader in Envelope Tracking (ET) technology, has released details of significant test results that demonstrate how ET technology can unlock the potential of RF CMOS PAs for high end 3G and 4G smartphone applications. Nujira has published a white paper detailing the results of this testing, available to download from www.nujira.com
Traditional CMOS PAs suffer from low inherent linearity, limiting their application to low cost 2G and 3G devices. ET is able to remove this limitation and in turn boost the linearity, efficiency and output power for CMOS PAs beyond the performance of today’s Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) PAs, even for high linearity LTE signals.
According to test results in the laboratory Nujira has been able to show that the combination of Nujira’s ET power modulators and a prototype CMOS PA device achieves the performance required for 4G. The key metrics achieved were 57% efficiency, 28dBm average output power, and -38dB ACLR, with a high peak-to-average power ratio LTE signal.
These high end performance results have been made possible by Nujira’s patented ISOGAIN Linearization. ISOGAIN removes the need for Digital Pre Distortion in CMOS PAs and linearizes the PA at no extra cost, power or complexity, while keeping the device in a highly efficient compressed state across a wide power control range.
By demonstrating the potential for high end applications of CMOS PAs, Nujira looks to have opened the door for what is set to be a hugely disruptive technology shift in the RF market.
Commenting Tim Haynes, CEO of Nujira said: “The exploding complexity of the RF front-end in today’s smartphones is driving unprecedented rates of change in the component industry. Our test results are a significant breakthrough, demonstrating that CMOS PAs can also be used in high-end 3G/4G smartphone applications. The combination of CMOS PAs with Nujira’s patented ET architectures could ultimately signal the death of the GaAs industry for handset applications. In the longer term, these results open the door for further CMOS integration, enabling a highly integrated RF front-end architecture for complex multi-mode, multi-band handsets.”
