Integration of signal sampling within transistor amplifier stage

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-8928411-B2
Application number	US-201313836895-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 15, 2013
Priority date	Dec 31, 2012
Publication date	Jan 6, 2015
Grant date	Jan 6, 2015

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention are generally directed to integration of signal sampling within a transistor amplifier stage. An embodiment of an apparatus includes a amplifier stage including a transistor to receive a source signal and produce an output signal, wherein the transistor includes multiple fingers for at least a first electrode of the transistor. The amplifier stage uses connections to some of the fingers of the first electrode for production of the output signal, and uses one or more other fingers for the first electrode of the transistor for a separate function from the production of the output signal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
an amplifier stage including a transistor to receive a source signal and produce an amplifier stage output signal, wherein the transistor includes a plurality of fingers for at least a first electrode of the transistor;
wherein a first subset of the plurality of fingers of the first electrode is coupled to provide the amplifier stage output signal; and
an integrated power detector circuit coupled to a second subset of the plurality of fingers, the integrated power detector circuit to generate a power detection output signal from the second subset of fingers of the first electrode.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the integrated power detector circuit further performs rectification of the power detection output signal.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the power detector circuit further includes a load resistance and a low pass filter.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the power detection output signal comprises a DC (Direct Current) voltage output.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the transistor further includes a second plurality of fingers for a second electrode of the transistor.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the second plurality of fingers includes a subset of fingers, wherein the subset of the second plurality generate a bias signal to modify a bias of the second subset of the plurality fingers of the transistor.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the transistor is one of a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) or NMOS (N-type Metal Oxide Semiconductor) transistor.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the first electrode is any of a drain electrode, a source electrode, or a gate electrode of the transistor.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the output signal is an RF (Radio Frequency) output signal.

10. A method comprising:
receiving a signal source at an amplifier stage, the amplifier stage including a transistor having a plurality of electrodes including a first electrode;
producing an amplifier stage output signal from the amplifier stage, wherein producing the amplifier stage output signal includes obtaining a signal from a first subset of fingers of a plurality of fingers of the first electrode; and
obtaining a signal from a second subset of fingers of the plurality of fingers of the first electrode; and
producing, by an integrated power detector circuit coupled to the second subset of fingers, a power detection output signal from the signal from the second subset of fingers.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising rectifying the power detection output signal.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the power detector circuit further includes a load resistance and a low pass filter.

13. The method of claim 12 , the power detection output signal comprises a DC (Direct Current) voltage output.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the transistor further includes a second plurality of fingers for a second electrode of the transistor.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein producing the amplitude stage output signal comprising producing an RF (Radio Frequency) output signal.

Assignees

• Silicon Image Inc

Inventors

• Parker James R
• Emami Sohrab

Classifications

• H10W44/226

  for HF amplifiers · CPC title

• H10W44/20 Primary

  at high-frequency [HF] or radio frequency [RF] · CPC title

• H03F1/0211

  with control of the supply voltage or current · CPC title

• H03F3/193 Primary

  with field-effect devices (H03F3/195 takes precedence) · CPC title