KR101057736B1 - Coupler-circulator integrated communication device and doherty amplifier including the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A combiner-circulator integrated a communications element and a doherty amplifier including the same are provided to minimizing a matching cost and an unnecessary power loss by minimizing an unnecessary connecting line. CONSTITUTION: An input signal among input signals is entered in a carrier amplifier(320). The other input signal is entered in a peak amplifier(330) by a first transformer(310). The first transformer delays a signal entered in the peak amplifier. The first transformer recompenses the delayed time difference between an output signal of the peak amplifier and an output signal of the carrier amplifier. A second transformer(340) modulates a load at the carrier amplifier. A third transformer(350) is additional a 1/4 wave impedance converter for matching to 50Ω load. A first directional coupler(360) proceeds the forward power monitoring. A second directional coupler(370) proceeds the reverse power monitoring.

Description

Coupler-circulator integrated communication device and doherty amplifier including the same}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a coupler-circulator that can be integrally formed. More specifically, a plurality of circuits including a coupler are formed on a laminated printed circuit board (PCB), and a circular circuit is formed on the laminated printed circuit board (PCB). The present invention relates to a combiner-circulator integrated communication device constituting a generator and a Doherty amplifier including the same.

In general, a mobile communication network consists of a base station, a base station controller, and a switch.

In such a mobile communication network, the mobile communication terminal freely moves within a service area formed by a base station and wirelessly communicates with a desired counterpart at any time and any place. Since each base station is nationwide, the whole country becomes a mobile communication service area.

The exchange establishes the communication path by switching according to the call connection request of the mobile communication terminal, and is installed in each area or fixed administrative unit of a certain size due to the limitation of processing capacity or capacity. It is connected to each other by the configuration to form part of the mobile communication network.

The base station is controlled by a base station controller, which matches the switch and configures voice and non-voice communication paths.

A power amplifier (PA) is used for the base station (BTS) equipment, and a power divider for distributing the power input to the power amplifier at the input / output terminal of the power amplifier and amplifying the power distributed at the power divider A power amplifier, a power combiner that combines the power amplified by the power amplifier, and a circulator (or isolator) that fixes the combined power in the power combiner in a set direction Is placed.

And, each of the equipment constituting the base station is generally composed of a separate individual element, in such a case, the power loss occurs in the connection line for connecting the respective element, and for matching between the individual elements Unnecessary additional losses and costs are incurred by constructing the transmission line. Therefore, in order to eliminate such unnecessary loss and cost, the integration and integration of individual devices is required.

On the other hand, the power amplification device for the base station in the communication system has been considered to be the only important factor of linearity due to the abundant power supply, but as the factors such as the increase, miniaturization, operating cost of the base station has recently been raised as an important factor, the power amplifier Research is focused on improving the efficiency of

Linearity and efficiency are the main performance factors of power amplifiers. In order to improve the linearity and efficiency, single devices may be simply combined. However, when single devices are simply combined, linearity and efficiency are simultaneously satisfied. In recent years, Doherty-type power amplifiers have been widely used.

As such, the Doherty Amplifier, a power amplifier proposed for improving the efficiency of the power amplification apparatus, has a structure in which a carrier amplifier and a peaking amplifier are asymmetrically coupled in parallel.

Such a Doherty amplifier is one of the amplifiers used in a high-efficiency modulation scheme of a large power transmitter, such as a base station. A quarter wave transformer (λ / 4 line) is used to parallel a carrier amplifier and a peaking amplifier. It has a structure to connect.

The peaking amplifier of the Doherty amplifier adjusts the impedance of the load line of the carrier amplifier by varying the amount of current supplied to the load according to the power level, thereby improving the efficiency characteristics of the Doherty amplifier. To increase.

Hereinafter, a power amplifier including a combiner and a circulator according to the prior art will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a view for explaining a power amplifier including a combiner and a circulator according to the prior art.

The power amplifier including the combiner and the circulator according to the prior art, as shown in Figure 1, the first transformer 110, the carrier amplifier 120, the peak amplifier 130, the second transformer 140, the third transformer 150, a directional coupler 160, and a circulator (or isolator) 170.

Here, one input signal of the input signal is input to the carrier amplifier 120 and the other input signal is divided into the peak amplifier 130 through the first transformer 110. In this case, the first transformer 110 compensates the delay time difference between the output signal of the peak amplifier 130 and the output signal of the carrier amplifier 120 by delaying the signal input to the peak amplifier 130 by 90 °. do.

Through this configuration, the Doherty amplifier is inserted with a 1/4 wavelength impedance converter, that is, a second transformer 140 for load modulation in the carrier amplifier 120. In addition, an additional quarter-wave impedance converter, i.e., a third transformer 150, is inserted to match the 50Ω load, and a drop-in circulator 170 is connected.

2 is a plan view illustrating a state in which a transformer, a directional coupler, and a circulator according to the prior art are formed on a printed circuit board, and FIG. 3 is a printed circuit board of the transformer, the directional coupler, and a circulator. It is AA 'sectional drawing of the state formed in (PCB).

In the state in which the transformer and the circulator according to the prior art are formed on the printed circuit board (PCB), as shown in FIGS. 2 to 3, the second transformer 140 is printed on one side of the printed circuit board 100. The third transformer 150 is printed to the right. In addition, a line used as the directional coupler 160 is printed to the right of the third transformer 150.

On the other hand, the circulator 170 is mounted on the predetermined insulating member 190 to the right of the directional coupler 160. In addition, reference numerals 180a, 180b, and 180c denote connection lines for connecting peripheral circuits.

4 is a plan view illustrating a state in which a chip type Doherty coupler, a chip type directional coupler, and a circulator according to the prior art are formed on a printed circuit board (PCB), and FIG. 5 is a chip type Doherty coupler and a chip shown in FIG. 4. BB 'is a cross-sectional view of a type directional coupler and a circulator formed on a printed circuit board (PCB).

As shown in FIGS. 4 to 5, the chip type Doherty coupler, the chip type directional coupler, and the circulator according to the related art are formed on the printed circuit board 200. A Doherty coupler 210 is constructed and a chip type directional coupler 220 is configured to the right.

The circulator 240 is mounted on the predetermined insulating member 230 to the right of the chip type directional coupler 220. Here, reference numeral 250 is a connection line for connecting peripheral circuits.

However, such a prior art has the following problems.

First, a transformer and a directional coupler are printed in a line in a horizontal direction on a printed circuit board, and a circulator is sequentially mounted, resulting in an increase in the overall power amplifier, which makes it difficult to miniaturize the base station as a whole. .

Second, since the connection lines of the transformer, the directional coupler and the circulator are also formed in one horizontal direction, a lot of power loss occurs in the corresponding connection lines, and there is a problem that unnecessary additional loss and excessive cost are required when connecting the individual elements. .

Accordingly, the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned disadvantages and problems of the prior art, the present invention is to form a plurality of circuits including a coupler in a laminated printed circuit board (PCB), laminated printed circuit board (PCB) It is an object of the present invention to provide a combiner-circulator integrated communication device having a circulator configured thereon and a Doherty amplifier including the same.

The present invention is a dielectric substrate to achieve the above object; At least one transformer formed in the dielectric substrate; One or more directional couplers formed within the dielectric substrate; And it provides a coupler-circulator integrated communication device comprising a circulator mounted on the dielectric substrate.

Here, the transformer is preferably a quarter-wave impedance converter.

It is also preferred that at least one directional coupler is formed for the forward power monitor and the reverse power monitor of the circulator.

The dielectric substrate preferably includes at least one of a low temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) substrate, a polytetrafluroethylene (PTFE) substrate, and an epoxy.

In the dielectric substrate, a plurality of via holes for connecting the transformer and the directional coupler with the first, second and third ports of the circulator are further formed.

According to the combiner-circulator integrated communication device and the Doherty amplifier including the same according to the present invention having the above configuration, the following effects are obtained.

First, by constructing a plurality of transformers, combiners and circulators in a vertical direction, the entire power amplifier can be miniaturized, and ultimately, the base station can be miniaturized.

Second, since unnecessary connection lines can be minimized, unnecessary power loss and matching costs due to the connection lines can be minimized.

1 is a circuit diagram illustrating a power amplifier including a combiner and a circulator according to the prior art;
2 is a plan view illustrating a state in which a transformer, a directional coupler, and a circulator according to the prior art are formed on a printed circuit board (PCB);
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA ′ in a state in which the transformer, the directional coupler, and the circulator shown in FIG. 2 are formed on a printed circuit board (PCB);
4 is a plan view illustrating a state in which a chip type Doherty coupler, a chip type directional coupler, and a circulator according to the prior art are formed on a printed circuit board (PCB);
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB ′ of the chip type Doherty coupler, the chip type directional coupler, and the circulator shown in FIG. 4.
6 is a circuit diagram illustrating a coupler-circulator integrated power amplifier including a transformer according to a first embodiment of the present invention;
7 is a circuit diagram illustrating a coupler-circulator integrated power amplifier including a transformer according to a second embodiment of the present invention;
8 is a plan view for explaining a state in which a combiner-circulator integrated communication element including the transformers shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 is formed on a dielectric substrate;
FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along line CC ′ of a coupler-circulator integrated communication device including the transformer shown in FIG. 8;
10 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a dielectric substrate on which a coupler or a transformer is formed in the coupler-circulator integrated communication device according to the present invention;
11 is a perspective view illustrating an example in which a combiner-circulator integrated communication device including a transformer according to the present invention is included in a case;
12 is a plan view in which a coupler-circulator integrated communication device including the transformer shown in FIG. 11 is included in a case;
FIG. 13 is a side view of a coupler-circulator integrated communication device including the transformer shown in FIG. 11 included in a case; FIG.
FIG. 14 is a bottom view of a coupler-circulator integrated communication device including the transformer shown in FIG. 11 included in a case; FIG.
15 is a conceptual diagram of a power amplifier including a combiner-circulator integrated communication device according to the present invention.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In addition, the terms used in the present invention were selected as general terms widely used as possible at present, but in certain cases, the term is arbitrarily selected by the applicant, in which case the meaning is described in detail in the description of the invention.

In addition, in describing the embodiments, descriptions of technical contents which are well known in the technical field to which the present invention pertains and which are not directly related to the present invention will be omitted, which obscures the gist of the present invention by omitting unnecessary descriptions. To communicate more clearly.

6 is a circuit diagram illustrating a coupler-circulator integrated power amplifier including a transformer according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 6, the coupler-circulator integrated power amplifier including the transformer according to the first embodiment of the present invention includes a first transformer 310, a carrier amplifier 320, a peak amplifier 330, and a second transformer ( 340, a third transformer 350, a first directional coupler 360, a second directional coupler 370, and a circulator (or isolator) 380. Here, the carrier amplifier 320 and the peak amplifier 330 constitute a Doherty amplifier.

First, one input signal of the input signal is input to the carrier amplifier 320 and the other input signal is divided into the peak amplifier 330 through the first transformer 310. In this case, the first transformer 310 compensates the delay time difference between the output signal of the peak amplifier 330 and the output signal of the carrier amplifier 320 by delaying the signal input to the peak amplifier 330 by 90 °. do.

Through such a configuration, the Doherty amplifier causes the peaking amplifier 330 to operate differently according to the input power. That is, when the input power is low power, the peaking amplifier 330 is OFF without performing an amplification operation on the input power. However, when the input power is high power, the power is turned on to perform an amplification operation on the input power.

In other words, a quarter-wave impedance converter for load modulation in the carrier amplifier 320, that is, a second transformer 340, is inserted to design a power amplifier having a Doherty structure.

In addition, an additional quarter-wave impedance converter, namely a third transformer 350, is inserted to match the 50Ω load, and a drop-in circulator 380 is connected.

When the input power is low, the Doherty amplifier increases the output power by increasing the load seen by the carrier amplifier 320 than when the power is high. Thus, the Doherty amplifier is more efficient than a symmetric parallel coupling amplifier such as a hybrid combine amplifier. Will be improved.

Meanwhile, the first directional coupler 360 performs forward power monitoring, and the second directional coupler 370 performs reverse power monitoring.

7 is a circuit diagram illustrating a coupler-circulator integrated power amplifier including a transformer according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 7, the combiner-circulator integrated power amplifier including the transformer according to the second embodiment of the present invention includes a first transformer 310, a carrier amplifier 320, a peak amplifier 330, and a second transformer ( 340, the third transformer 350, the first directional coupler 360, the bidirectional coupler 370, and the circulator (or isolator) 380 are similar to the first embodiment of the present invention. However, there is a difference in that the first directional coupler 360 is configured at the stage next to the circulator 380. The first directional coupler 360 according to the second embodiment of the present invention performs monitoring on the forward power output from the circulator 380, and the second directional coupler 370 performs reverse power monitoring. In this second embodiment of the present invention, since most operations are similar to the first embodiment of the present invention, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 8 is a plan view illustrating a state in which the combiner-circulator integrated communication device including the transformer shown in FIG. 7 is formed on a dielectric substrate, and FIG. 9 is a combiner-circulator integrated communication device including the transformer shown in FIG. 8. Is a cross-sectional view taken along the line CC ′ of the dielectric substrate.

In the state in which the combiner and the circulator integrated communication device including the transformer according to the present invention are formed on the dielectric substrate, as shown in FIGS. 8 to 9, the second transformer 340 is formed inside the dielectric substrate 300. On the left side thereof, a third transformer 350 is formed. In addition, a first directional coupler 360 is formed on the side of the third transformer 350.

Meanwhile, a second directional coupler 370 is formed on the right side of the first directional coupler 360, and the circulator 380 is mounted on the dielectric substrate 300. The reference numerals 390a, 390b, and 390c are via holes connected to the first, second, and third ports of the circulator 380, and 390d and 390e are via holes connected to the terminals. A conductive material is formed in each via hole. Such a conductive material is not particularly limited as long as the conductive material is excellent.

Here, P1 is an output line Ant, P2 is a carrier amplifier input line, P3 is a picking amplifier input line, P4 is an output line on the first directional coupler 360 side, and P5 is an output line on the second directional coupler 370 side. , P6 may be configured as an output Rx line of the circulator 380. Of course, this can be variously modified depending on the design.

10 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a dielectric substrate on which a coupler or a transformer is formed in the coupler-circulator integrated communication device according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 10, the dielectric substrate 500 of the coupler-circulator according to the present invention includes a first ground plane 505, a first dielectric layer 510, a conductive layer 506, a second dielectric layer 535, and The second ground plane 540 may be included.

The first ground plane 505 may be a metal conductive surface at least partially connected to the ground terminal, and a first dielectric layer 510 formed by stacking a dielectric material may be formed on the first ground plane 505. In addition, a conductive layer 506 may be formed on the first dielectric layer 510.

Here, the conductive layer 506 forms a coupler or a transformer. In this case, the via may be connected to an input terminal (not shown) and an output terminal (not shown) of the dielectric substrate 500 through vias formed in or on the surface of the dielectric substrate 500.

The second dielectric layer 535 may be formed on the conductive layer 506, and the second ground plane 540 may be formed on the second dielectric layer 535. The second ground plane 540 may be formed in the same structure and shape as the first ground plane 505 described above, and may be variously modified by those skilled in the art according to experiments or field experiences.

Meanwhile, the dielectric substrate 500 of the coupler-circuit integrated communication device may be a multi-layer low temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) substrate, a PTFE (polytetrafluroethylene) substrate, an epoxy substrate, but is not limited thereto. .

11 is a perspective view illustrating an example in which a transformer and a combiner-circulator integrated communication device according to the present invention are included in a case, and FIG. 12 illustrates a state in which the transformer and the combiner-circulator integrated communication device are included in a case. 13 is a side view of the transformer and the combiner-circulator integrated communication element shown in FIG. 11 included in the case, and FIG. 14 is a bottom view of the transformer and the combiner-circulator integrated communication element shown in FIG. 11 included in the case. to be.

As described above, the case protecting the transformer and the combiner-circulator integrated communication element according to the present invention is configured of a hexahedron to protect the circulator, and the ground is formed on the bottom thereof. Of course, the structure of the case is composed of a rectangular hexahedron, this is only one embodiment may be configured as a case of a circular or triangular shape, etc., but is not particularly limited in form.

15 is a conceptual diagram of a power amplifier including a combiner-circulator integrated communication device according to the present invention. The power amplifier including the combiner-circulator integrated communication device according to the present invention includes a base substrate 700, a power divider 600 mounted on the base substrate 700, amplifiers 320 and 330, and various aspects of the present invention. It may include a coupler-circulator integrated communication device (300, 380) in accordance with embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 15, the power divider 600 may be mounted on the base substrate 700 to distribute input power, and the amplifiers 320 and 330 may be mounted on the base substrate 700 to provide power. Connected to the divider 600 may serve to amplify the distributed power.

In addition, the combiner-circulator integrated communication devices 300 and 380 according to various embodiments of the present invention are mounted on the base substrate 700 and are coupled to the amplifiers 320 and 330 to combine the amplified power. And provide it to the output.

As such, in the case of the power amplifier according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the combiner-circulator integrated communication device described above may be mounted, thereby reducing unnecessary power loss and matching costs between devices.

As described above, the present invention has been described through preferred embodiments, which are intended to help the understanding of the present invention, but are not intended to limit the technical scope of the present invention.

Therefore, it should be understood that various changes and modifications can be made by those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains.

For example, the structure of the case is composed of a rectangular hexahedron, this is only one embodiment may be configured as a case such as a circular or triangular shape, and the shape is not particularly limited.

300, 500: dielectric substrate 310: first transformer
320: carrier amplifier 330: peak amplifier
340: the second transformer 350: the third transformer
360: first directional coupler 370: second directional coupler
380: circulator 505: the first ground plane
506: conductive layer 510: first dielectric layer
535: second dielectric layer 540: second ground plane
600: power divider 700: base board

Claims (6)

In the combiner-circulator integrated communication device:
Dielectric substrate;
One or more transformers formed in the dielectric substrate;
A circulator electrically connected to the transformer and mounted on the dielectric substrate;
One or more directional couplers formed inside the dielectric substrate and monitoring power of the circulator;
The transformer;
A first transformer receiving and delaying an output signal from a carrier amplifier provided outside the dielectric substrate;
An output signal of the first transformer and a second transformer that receives an output signal from a peak amplifier provided outside the dielectric substrate and provides an impedance match to the circulator;
And the first and second transformers are quarter-wave impedance converters formed in the conductive layer inside the dielectric substrate. delete The method of claim 1,
And the directional coupler is formed in the conductive layer and provided with at least one for forward power monitor and reverse power monitor of the circulator. The method of claim 3,
The directional coupler;
A first directional coupler disposed between the second transformer and the first port of the circulator;
And a second directional coupler disposed between the second port of the circulator and the receiving side output terminal or the third port of the circulator and the transmitting side output terminal. The method of claim 4, wherein
The dielectric substrate includes a plurality of vias for electrically connecting each of the second transformer and the first port of the circulator, the second port and the receiving side output terminal, or the third port and the transmitting side output terminal. Combiner-circulator integrated communication device, characterized in that the hole is further formed. A base substrate;
A power divider mounted on the base substrate to distribute input power;
A Doherty amplifier mounted on the base substrate to receive and amplify the power distributed from the power divider; And
The combiner according to any one of claims 1, 3, and 5, mounted on the base substrate and receiving the amplified power from the Doherty amplifying unit to combine and output the amplified power. A Doherty amplifier comprising a circulator integrated communication element.

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