Power management circuit and related radio frequency front-end circuit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10879852-B2
Application number	US-201715856143-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 28, 2017
Priority date	Aug 8, 2017
Publication date	Dec 29, 2020
Grant date	Dec 29, 2020

Abstract

A power management circuit and related radio frequency (RF) front-end circuit are provided. In examples discussed herein, a power management circuit can be incorporated into an RF front-end circuit to support RF beamforming in millimeter wave spectrum(s). In this regard, the power management circuit is configured to generate multiple output voltages to drive multiple power amplifier subarrays in the RF front-end circuit. More specifically, the power management circuit is configured to generate the output voltages based on a voltage scaling factor(s) such that each of the output voltages corresponds proportionally to a battery voltage received by the power management circuit. As such, the output voltages can be dynamically controlled based on the voltage scaling factor(s) to maximize operating efficiency of the power amplifier subarrays. As a result, it is possible to reduce heat dissipation of the power amplifier subarrays and improve overall thermal performance of the RF front-end circuit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
power control circuitry comprising a plurality of supply voltage outputs and configured to:
receive a battery voltage and a clock signal comprising repeating clock cycles;
determine one or more voltage scaling factors based on the clock signal; and
generate a plurality of supply voltages based on the clock signal at the plurality of supply voltage outputs, wherein the plurality of supply voltages corresponds proportionally to the battery voltage based on the one or more voltage scaling factors;

a plurality of voltage circuits coupled to the plurality of supply voltage outputs and configured to generate a plurality of output voltages based on the plurality of supply voltages, respectively; and
a plurality of voltage outputs coupled to the plurality of voltage circuits and configured to output the plurality of output voltages, respectively.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:
a power management circuit comprising the power control circuitry, the plurality of voltage circuits, and the plurality of voltage outputs; and
a plurality of power amplifier subarrays each comprising one or more power amplifiers and configured to amplify an RF signal based on the plurality of output voltages, respectively.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the power control circuitry comprises:
a plurality of capacitors;
switching circuitry coupled to the plurality of capacitors; and
control circuitry configured to control the switching circuitry to alternately couple the plurality of capacitors to each of the plurality of supply voltage outputs according to the repeating clock cycles of the clock signal to generate the plurality of supply voltages.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the one or more voltage scaling factors comprise an independent voltage scaling factor, a first dependent voltage scaling factor equaling one minus the independent voltage scaling factor, and a second dependent voltage scaling factor equaling one plus the independent voltage scaling factor.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the plurality of capacitors is configured to determine the independent voltage scaling factor.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least one supply voltage among the plurality of supply voltages is different from at least one other supply voltage among the plurality of supply voltages.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least one supply voltage among the plurality of supply voltages is identical to at least one other supply voltage among the plurality of supply voltages.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of supply voltages is an average-power-tracking (APT) voltage.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of voltage circuits comprises a voltage amplifier configured to:
receive a respective target voltage and a respective supply voltage among the plurality of supply voltages via a respective supply voltage output among the plurality of supply voltage outputs;
generate a respective output voltage tracking the respective target voltage based on the respective supply voltage; and
provide the respective output voltage to a respective voltage output among the plurality of voltage outputs.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein each of the plurality of voltage circuits further comprises a holding capacitor coupled between the respective supply voltage output and a ground and configured to maintain the respective supply voltage between the repeating clock cycles of the clock signal.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein each of the plurality of voltage circuits further comprises a filter capacitor coupled between the respective voltage output and a ground.

12. A radio frequency (RF) front-end circuit comprising:
a power management circuit comprising:
power control circuitry comprising a plurality of supply voltage outputs and configured to:
receive a battery voltage and a clock signal comprising repeating clock cycles;
determine one or more voltage scaling factors based on the clock signal; and
generate a plurality of supply voltages based on the clock signal at the plurality of supply voltage outputs, wherein the plurality of supply voltages corresponds proportionally to the battery voltage based on the one or more voltage scaling factors;

a plurality of voltage circuits coupled to the plurality of supply voltage outputs and configured to generate a plurality of output voltages based on the plurality of supply voltages, respectively; and
a plurality of voltage outputs coupled to the plurality of voltage circuits and configured to output the plurality of output voltages, respectively; and

a plurality of power amplifier subarrays each comprising one or more power amplifiers and configured to amplify an RF signal based on the plurality of output voltages, respectively.

13. The RF front-end circuit of claim 12 wherein the plurality of power amplifier subarrays is coupled to a plurality of antenna subarrays, respectively, and the plurality of antenna subarrays is configured to transmit the RF signal in at least one formed RF beam.

14. The RF front-end circuit of claim 12 further comprising control circuitry configured to control the power management circuit to generate the plurality of supply voltages based on the clock signal.

15. The RF front-end circuit of claim 14 wherein the one or more power amplifiers in each of the plurality of power amplifier subarrays are configured to operate based on one or more programmed gains, respectively.

16. The RF front-end circuit of claim 15 wherein the control circuitry is configured to determine a respective output voltage among the plurality of output voltages for a respective power amplifier subarray among the plurality of power amplifier subarrays based on a max programmed gain among the one or more power amplifiers in the respective power amplifier subarray.

17. The RF front-end circuit of claim 15 wherein the control circuitry is configured to:
adjust the one or more programmed gains in a respective power amplifier subarray among the plurality of power amplifier subarrays; and
determine a respective output voltage among the plurality of output voltages for the respective power amplifier subarray based on a max programmed gain among the one or more power amplifiers in the respective power amplifier subarray.

18. The RF front-end circuit of claim 14 wherein the power control circuitry comprises:
a plurality of capacitors; and
switching circuitry coupled to the plurality of capacitors;
wherein the control circuitry is configured to control the switching circuitry to alternately couple the plurality of capacitors to each of the plurality of supply voltage outputs according to the repeating clock cycles of the clock signal to generate the plurality of supply voltages.

19. The RF front-end circuit of claim 18 wherein the one or more voltage scaling factors comprise an independent voltage scaling factor, a first dependent voltage scaling factor equaling one minus the independent voltage scaling factor, and a second dependent voltage scaling factor equaling one plus the independent voltage scaling factor.

20. The RF front-end circuit of claim 12 wherein at least one supply voltage among the plurality of supply voltages is different from at least one other supply voltage among the plurality of supply voltages.

Assignees

• Qorvo Us Inc

Inventors

• Khlat Nadim
• Hietala Alexander Wayne

Classifications

• H02M1/009

  having two or more independently controlled outputs (for DC-DC converter with intermediate AC H02M3/33561) · CPC title

• H03F1/0227

  using supply converters · CPC title

• H02M3/07

  using capacitors charged and discharged alternately by semiconductor devices with control electrode {, e.g. charge pumps} · CPC title

• H03F3/68

  Combinations of amplifiers, e.g. multi-channel amplifiers for stereophonics {(power amplifiers using a combination of several semiconductor amplifiers H03F3/211; combinations of amplifiers using coupling networks with distributed constants H03F3/602)} · CPC title

• H03F1/30 Primary

  Modifications of amplifiers to reduce influence of variations of temperature or supply voltage {or other physical parameters (in differential amplifiers H03F3/45479)} · CPC title