Qualcomm Incorporated

Iulian Mirea

Song Shi

Mukesh Bansal

Michael McGowan

Jongshick Ahn

Moataz Abdelsamie Abdelfattah

Lin Xue

Jingxue Lu

Pengfei Li

Xiaocheng Jing

Todd Robert Sutton

Gerard James Wimpenny

Troy L Stockstad

Brett Christopher Walker

Joseph Duncan

Thomas Domenick Marra

Xun Liu

Justin Philpott

Linfei Guo

Amir Parayandeh

Shengyuan Li

Sally Amin

Qadeer Khan

Chung-Ti Hsu

Michael Mcgowan

In certain aspects, a clamp includes first and second transistors coupled in series between a power bus and a ground. The clamp also includes a resistive voltage divider configured to bias a gate of the first transistor and a gate of the second transistor based on a supply voltage on the power bus. The clamp further includes a capacitive voltage divider configured to turn on the first and second transistors in response to a voltage transient on the power bus exceeding a trigger threshold voltage.

High voltage supply clamp

Certain aspects of the present disclosure are directed to a regulator. The regulator generally includes a source follower circuit and a low-voltage assist circuit. The low-voltage assist circuit generally includes a first transistor having a gate coupled to an output node of the source follower circuit, a voltage comparison circuit having a first input coupled to a source of the first transistor and a second input coupled to a control input node of the source follower circuit, and a second transistor having a gate coupled to an output of the voltage comparison circuit and a drain coupled to the output node of the source follower circuit.

Rail-to-rail source follower buffer for switching regulator driver supply

An envelope tracking system includes an envelope signal generator, a supply modulator coupled to the envelope signal generator, the supply modulator comprising a switching regulator path configured to provide an output voltage at an output node to a power amplifier when in an average power tracking (APT) mode, the switching regulator path configured to operate together with a linear path to provide the output voltage at the output node to the power amplifier when in an envelope tracking (ET) mode, a capacitor having a first and second terminal, the first terminal coupled to ground, a switch coupled between the output node and the second terminal of the capacitor, the switch being configured to selectively disconnect the capacitor from the output node, and a circuit coupled between the output node and the second terminal of the capacitor, the circuit comprising a bi-directional current-limiting switch, the circuit configured to charge or discharge the capacitor such that a voltage across the capacitor changes from a first voltage to a second voltage.

Envelope tracking system having fast transition time for a radio frequency (RF) amplifier

Aspects of the present disclosure provide a high voltage switch with a fast turn-off. An example power supply circuit generally includes a capacitive element for coupling to a power terminal of an amplifier, a first switch configured to be closed in a first mode and to be open in a second mode, a second switch coupled in series between the first switch and the capacitive element and configured to be closed in the first mode and to be open in the second mode, a first circuit coupled to the first switch and configured to charge the capacitive element and power the amplifier in the first mode, and a buffer circuit having an output coupled to a first node and configured to output a first voltage level greater than half of a second voltage level at a second node.

High voltage switch with fast turn-off

A method for unbalancing a tri-level switching regulator uses hysteretic control when switching across multiple states of the tri-level switching regulator. The method includes determining a battery voltage and an output voltage of the tri-level switching regulator. The method also includes dynamically adjusting at least one of a first hysteretic window of a first hysteretic comparator associated with a second switching state of the tri-level switching regulator and a second hysteretic window of a second hysteretic comparator associated with a first switching state of the tri-level switching regulator based on the battery voltage and the output voltage.

Hysteretic window adjustment of tri-level switching regulator

An apparatus is disclosed for a single-inductor multiple-output (SIMO) power converter with a cross-regulation switch. An example apparatus includes a power source and a SIMO power converter. The SIMO power converter includes an input node coupled to the power source, a first node, a second node, a ground node, and an inductor coupled between the first node and the second node. The single-inductor multiple-output power converter also includes a first switch coupled between the input node and the first node, a second switch coupled between the first node and the ground node, and a cross-regulation switch coupled between the input node and the second node.

Single-inductor multiple-output (SIMO) power converter with a cross-regulation switch

A power amplifier (PA) circuit includes a circuit for generating a supply voltage at an upper voltage rail for a power amplifier (PA). The circuit includes a DC-to-DC converter for generating a voltage from which the supply voltage is generated; a linear amplifier for sourcing or sinking current to or from the upper voltage rail via a capacitor for performing fine adjustment of the supply voltage; a first switching device coupled between an output of the linear amplifier and a lower voltage rail to selectively assist the linear amplifier sink current through the capacitor to deal with actual or anticipated transient response of the supply voltage; and a second switching device coupled between the upper voltage rail and the lower voltage rail to selectively discharge the capacitor in response to actual or anticipated transient response of the supply voltage.

Apparatus and method for assisting envelope tracking with transient response in supply voltage for power amplifier

A power converter includes a voltage source for generating an input voltage, and a regulation circuit for generating a set of output voltages based on the input voltage. The regulation circuit regulates the set of output voltages in different manners based on whether the set of output voltages is greater or less than a set of corresponding reference voltages, respectively. If one or more output voltages are less than one or more of the corresponding reference voltages, the regulation circuit regulates only those one or more output voltages during a current regulation interval based on an error voltage related to one or more differences between the one or more output voltages and the corresponding one or more reference voltages, respectively. If all output voltages are greater than the corresponding reference voltages, the regulation circuit regulates only the output voltage associated with the largest load current during the current regulation interval.

Switched common-mode current control for single-inductor-multiple-output (SIMO) power converters

A tri-level converter provides three levels of power supply to a power amplifier that includes a supply path. The supply path has a first transistor and a first inherent body diode associated with the first transistor, as well as a second transistor and a second inherent body diode associated with the second transistor. A polarity of the second body diode is reversed relative to a polarity of the first body diode. A first driver is configured to drive the first transistor and the first inherent body diode to control a power supply, including a battery supply signal, to an output of the tri-level converter. The tri-level converter is coupled to a switching node.

Multi-level power supply architecture for radio frequency power amplifiers

A current comparator including a first comparator configured to generate a first output signal based on a comparison of a first current to at least a second current; a second comparator configured to generate a second output signal based on a comparison of the first current to at least a third current; and a circuit configured to: direct the first current to the first comparator to perform the comparison of the first current to the at least the second current while blocking the first current from being applied to the second comparator; or direct the first current to the second comparator to perform the comparison of the first current to the at least the third current while blocking the first current from being applied to the first comparator.

Apparatus and method for comparing input current to set of current thresholds

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide methods and apparatus for operating an envelope tracking power supply. The method may include receiving, from a modem of a device, information indicative of a transmit waveform statistic of a signal to be wirelessly transmitted by the device. The method may further include adjusting a configuration of the envelope tracking power supply based on the transmit waveform statistic of the signal.

Adjusting envelope tracking power supply

The present disclosure describes a synchronized switching power supply for a radio frequency (RF) power amplifier. In some aspects, a synchronized power supply circuit comprises a first switch connected between a power rail and a first terminal of an inductor that is connected to an output of the circuit via its second terminal. The circuit also includes a second switch connected between a ground rail and the first terminal of the inductor, and respective gate drivers for the first and second switches. An amplifier of the circuit is connected to the power rail and has an output connected to the output of the circuit. A current sensor is connected between the output of the amplifier and the output of the circuit, with an output of the current sensor being connected to an input of a comparator. A delay circuit is connected between an output of the comparator and the first and second gate drivers, and may synchronize the power supply circuit.

Switching power supply for RF power amplifiers

Features and advantages of the present disclosure include a switching regulator and current measurement circuit. In one embodiment, a switching transistor in the switching regulator has a first voltage on a first terminal and a switching voltage on a second terminal. A current measurement circuit has first and second input terminals. A first switch couples the second terminal of the switching transistor to the first terminal of the current measurement circuit when the switching transistor is on, where the second input terminal of the current measurement circuit is coupled to the first terminal of the switching transistor and measurement(s) may be taken. When the switching transistor is off, the first and second input terminals of the current measurement circuit are coupled together, and measurements emulate zero current through the switching transistor.

Current measurments in switching regulators

In one embodiment, a method for increasing speed of a differential input pair. The method comprises applying a first boost current to a first input of the differential input pair during a transition of a first signal applied to the first input; storing the first boost current; ending the application of the first boost current in response to the stored first boost current exceeding a first threshold; applying a second boost current to a second input of the differential input pair during a transition of a second signal applied to the second input; storing the second boost current; and ending the application of the second boost current in response to the stored second boost current exceeding a second threshold.

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San Diego, CA, United States of America

Iulian Mirea