Control circuit based on gallium arsenide material and radio frequency front end chip applied by control circuit
Technical Field
The invention relates to the field of power amplifiers, in particular to a control circuit and a radio frequency front end chip applied to the control circuit.
Background
In recent years, the WiFi communication technology has achieved tremendous success, and has been upgraded every few years from WiFi2 (IEEE 802.11 a/b), wiFi4 (IEEE 802.11 n), wiFi5 (IEEE 802.11 ac), wiFi6 (IEEE 802.11 ax), to WiFi7 (IEEE 802.11 be). WiFi radio frequency chip technology has also evolved significantly from individually packaged radio frequency power amplifier chips to power amplifier chips, low noise amplifiers, switch chips and control circuit chips, packaged integrated into radio frequency front end chip modules of several square millimeters.
In current WiFi communications, the rf power amplifier typically employs HBT (heterojunction bipolar transistor) integrated circuit technology of gallium arsenide material, and the switch and low noise amplifier typically employ HMET (high electron mobility transistor) integrated circuit technology of gallium arsenide material. The control circuit is usually a CMOS device made of silicon-based material because OPA (operational amplifier) is used. Therefore, the WiFi radio frequency front end chip control circuit cannot be directly integrated with other circuits (power amplifier, low noise amplifier and switch) into the same chip, resulting in prolonged development design period, increased size area and increased production cost.
As shown in fig. 1, is a typical solution for a control circuit in the prior art. The main body of the control circuit is composed of a low-voltage-drop voltage stabilizer 01, and is matched with a current source (see 02 and 03 of fig. 1) and a current comparator (see 04 and 05 of fig. 1) to realize the required control function. There are also embodiments of matching output driving NMOS transistors to control the voltage of the power amplifier, and embodiments of matching temperature stabilizing circuits.
In fig. 1, the low dropout regulator 01 is composed of an operational amplifier OPA, a PMOS transistor T01, and resistors R1', R2'. The voltage VEN of the control signal is directly applied to the reverse input end of the operational amplifier OPA, and the output end of the operational amplifier OPA is connected with the grid electrode of the PMOS tube T01. The source electrode of the PMOS tube T01 is connected with the power supply voltage, the drain electrode is used as the output voltage Vout of the whole control circuit, and the PMOS tube T01 is connected with the resistor R1'. And the other end of the resistor R1' is connected with the resistor R2', and the other end of the resistor R2' is grounded. The junction FB of the resistor R1 'and the resistor R2' is connected to the positive input terminal of the operational amplifier OPA as a feedback point, and is connected to the current comparator 04 and the current comparator 05 to provide the reference current. The output voltage Vout of the low dropout regulator 01 may be expressed as vout=ven× (1+r1 '/R2') according to the operating principle of the operational amplifier. I.e. when the ratio of the resistors R1 'and R2' is fixed, the control signal can control the output voltage Vout linearly, thereby controlling the operating state of the power amplifier.
The operational amplifier OPA and the PMOS transistor T01 forming the low dropout voltage regulator 01 include PMOS transistors T02 and T03 in two current comparators, which are both made of silicon-based CMOS devices, and cannot be applied to a gallium arsenide substrate. That is, the low-dropout voltage regulator needs to be fabricated on a single CMOS die, but cannot be integrated on the same die at the same time as the power amplifier, low-noise amplifier, and switch fabricated on the gaas substrate. Therefore, the module size of the chip increases, the variety of wafers increases, and the design complexity and the manufacturing cost of the whole radio frequency front end chip increase.
Disclosure of Invention
The invention aims to provide a control circuit based on gallium arsenide material and a radio frequency front end chip applied to the control circuit, and simplify the wafer constitution and the manufacturing process of the radio frequency front end chip.
The technical solution of the invention for realizing the above purpose is that a control circuit based on gallium arsenide material outputs a voltage Vout for controlling the switching of the working state towards a power amplifier by receiving a voltage VEN as a control signal, and is characterized in that the control circuit is composed of a resistor, a HEMT transistor and a diode of gallium arsenide material and is provided with a power supply voltage by VDD, and the control circuit comprises a control signal driving stage, a control signal reverse pushing stage and a multistage amplifying circuit of a control signal output stage.
In the above control circuit based on gallium arsenide materials, further, in the control circuit, the amplifying circuit of the control signal driving stage is composed of resistors R1, R2, R3 and a HEMT transistor T1, the amplifying circuit of the control signal reverse driving stage is composed of resistors R4, R5 and a HEMT transistor T2, the amplifying circuit of the control signal output stage is composed of HEMT transistors T3, T4 and gallium arsenide diodes D1, D2, the voltage VEN is connected with one end of the resistor R1, the other end of the resistor R1 is connected with the gate of the resistor R2 and the HEMT transistor T1, the other end of the resistor R2 is commonly connected with the source of the HEMT transistor T1, the drain of the HEMT transistor T1 is connected with the resistor R3 and the resistor R4 at one point, the other end of the resistor R3 is connected with the power VDD, the other end of the resistor R4 is connected with the gate of the HEMT transistor T2, the source of the HEMT transistor T2 is grounded and the drain of the HEMT transistor T5 is connected with the gate of the HEMT transistor T3, the other end of the resistor R5 and the drain of the HEMT transistor T3 is connected with the drain of the HEMT transistor T4, and the two of the HEMT transistor D is connected with the positive voltage diode of the two sets of the HEMT 2 and the HEMT is connected with the source of the positive voltage diode D is connected with the source of the HEMT 4.
In the gallium arsenide material-based control circuit, the resistors R1, R2 and R3 are all high-impedance resistors with a resistance of 10kΩ or more.
In the control circuit based on gallium arsenide material, further, the on voltage of the gallium arsenide diodes D1 and D2 is close to 1.25V, and the on voltage between the gate and the source of the HEMT transistor T4 is close to 0.5V.
The control circuit based on gallium arsenide material is further made by a gallium arsenide chip processing technology, and comprises a substrate with the thickness of 75 mu m, an Au metal grounding film with the thickness of 4 mu m at the bottom layer, a first Au metal connecting line with the thickness of 1 mu m, a second Au metal connecting line with the thickness of 4 mu m, a HEMT transistor with the grid length of 0.5 mu m, a gallium arsenide diode and a resistor, wherein a silicon nitride insulating layer with the thickness of 0.1 mu m is formed between the two Au metal connecting lines, and the two Au metal connecting lines are locally and electrically connected through a fixed hole in the silicon nitride insulating layer.
The radio frequency front end chip is characterized by comprising a power amplifier, a low noise amplifier, a switch and the control circuit of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the power amplifier is independently manufactured on a gallium arsenide HBT chip and comprises a radio frequency amplifying circuit and a bias circuit which are connected, the low noise amplifier, the switch and the control circuit are integrated on the gallium arsenide HEMT chip, the voltage VEN of a control signal is input to the control circuit, the control circuit is connected with the low noise amplifier, the switch and the bias circuit, the other control signal C0 and an antenna are connected with the switch, the switch is connected with the low noise amplifier and the radio frequency amplifying circuit in a shunt way, the low noise amplifier is connected with a receiver, and the radio frequency signal is input to the radio frequency amplifying circuit.
The second technical solution of the present invention for achieving the other object is that the radio frequency front end chip is characterized by comprising a power amplifier, a low noise amplifier, a switch and the control circuit according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the power amplifier, the low noise amplifier, the switch and the control circuit are integrally integrated on a HEMT chip, the power amplifier comprises a connected radio frequency amplifying circuit and a bias circuit, the voltage VEN of the control signal is input to the control circuit, the control circuit is connected with the low noise amplifier, the switch and the bias circuit, the other control signal C0 and the antenna are connected with the switch, the switch is connected with the low noise amplifier and the radio frequency amplifying circuit in a shunt path, the low noise amplifier is connected with the receiver, and the radio frequency signal is input to the radio frequency amplifying circuit.
Compared with the control circuit of the existing silicon-based material CMOS device, the control circuit has remarkable improvement that the control circuit is designed and constructed by using the HEMT transistor and the diode of the gallium arsenide material, and the control circuit, the low-noise amplifier and the switch can be integrated on the same wafer of the gallium arsenide material, so that the complexity of research and development design is simplified, the research and development time consumption is shortened, the chip size is reduced, and the manufacturing cost is saved.
Drawings
Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a prior art control circuit made of a silicon-based material.
Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a preferred embodiment of a gallium arsenide material-based control circuit according to the present invention.
Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of the layout design of the control circuit shown in fig. 2 under the gallium arsenide chip processing technology.
Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of the topology of a radio frequency front end chip to which the control circuit of the present invention is applied.
Description of the embodiments
The following detailed description of the embodiments of the present invention is provided with reference to the accompanying drawings, so that the technical scheme of the present invention is easier to understand and grasp, and the protection scope of the present invention is defined more clearly.
In view of the foregoing shortages of the existing silicon-based control circuit in terms of chip integration, in order to integrate the control circuit onto the switch and the wafer of the low noise amplifier, the control circuit at the front end of the radio frequency cannot use CMOS transistors of silicon-based material as the amplifying devices, but only use HEMT transistors of gallium arsenide material as the amplifying devices. The control circuit designed by the invention is characterized in that VDD is used for providing power supply voltage, a gallium arsenide HEMT transistor is used as an amplifying device as a main body, and a gallium arsenide diode and a resistor are configured to construct a driving, amplifying and outputting circuit of a control signal, namely a multistage amplifying circuit comprising a control signal driving stage, a control signal reverse pushing stage and a control signal outputting stage.
Although the materials used as the amplifying devices vary, there is still a wide space for the amplifying circuit design. From a further refinement, as in the preferred embodiment shown in fig. 2, in this control circuit the amplifying circuit of the control signal driving stage is composed of resistors R1, R2, R3 and HEMT transistor T1, the amplifying circuit of the control signal reverse driving stage is composed of resistors R4, R5 and HEMT transistor T2, and the amplifying circuit of the control signal output stage is composed of HEMT transistors T3, T4 and gallium arsenide diodes D1, D2. From the device connection, the voltage VEN is connected with one end of a resistor R1, the other end of the resistor R1 is connected with a resistor R2 and a grid electrode of a HEMT transistor T1, the other end of the resistor R2 is commonly connected with a source electrode of the HEMT transistor T1 and grounded, a drain electrode of the HEMT transistor T1 is connected with a resistor R3 and a resistor R4 at one point, the other end of the resistor R3 is connected with a power supply VDD, the other end of the resistor R4 is connected with a grid electrode of a HEMT transistor T2, a source electrode of the HEMT transistor T2 is grounded and a drain electrode of the resistor R5 is connected with a grid electrode of the HEMT transistor T3, the other end of the resistor R5 and the drain electrode of the HEMT transistor T3 are both connected with the grid electrode of the HEMT transistor T4 to form an output end of a control circuit voltage Vout, and the source electrode of the HEMT transistor T4 is grounded through a group of two gallium arsenide diodes D1 and D2 which are connected in forward series.
When the radio frequency front end chip is required to output radio frequency power, the voltage VEN of the control signal is usually 3V high potential, the resistors R1 and R2 are usually tens of kiloohms, and the input of high impedance is realized, so that the current drawn from the input end of the control signal is relatively small and can be less than 0.1mA. The transistor T1 is an enhancement HEMT, and the potential of the gate of the transistor T1 is determined according to the ratio of the resistors R1 and R2, i.e. the amplifier in the first stage can be turned on by adjusting the ratio. Since the resistor R3 is large enough, about tens of kiloohms, the transistor T1 is in a saturated state, and the drain potential thereof is low, so that the transistor T2 is not turned on, but is in an off state, because the transistor T2 is an enhancement type, the drain potential thereof is determined by the resistor R5 and the third stage. The third stage is a source follower circuit, and the on voltage of the two forward series diodes D1, D2, plus the on voltage of the gate and source of the transistor T4, determine the level of the voltage Vout of the output control signal. Typically, the gallium arsenide diode has a turn-on voltage of about 1.25V, the hemt transistor has a turn-on voltage between its gate and source of about 0.5V, and the control signal output is about 3V.
When the rf front-end chip is required to receive the rf signal from the antenna, the voltage VEN of the control signal is usually 0V low, and the first stage amplifier is in the off state, while the second stage is in the saturated state, and the gate of the transistor T3 is in the low state, so that the voltage Vout of the output control signal is low.
From the viewpoint of processing and manufacturing the control circuit, a mature gallium arsenide chip processing technology in the integrated circuit industry chain is used. Reference is made to the schematic layout shown in fig. 3. The active amplifying device of this process is a HEMT transistor including enhancement type and depletion type, and its gate length is 0.5 μm. Passive devices include gallium arsenide diodes and high-resistance resistors. The chip layering of the control circuit comprises a substrate with the thickness of 75 mu m, an Au metal grounding film with the thickness of 4 mu m at the bottom layer, a first Au metal connecting line with the thickness of more than 1 mu m, a second Au metal connecting line with the thickness of 4 mu m, a HEMT transistor with the grid length of 0.5 mu m, a gallium arsenide diode and a resistor, wherein a silicon nitride insulating layer with the thickness of 0.1 mu m is formed between the two Au metal connecting lines, and the two Au metal connecting lines are partially and electrically connected through a solid hole in the silicon nitride insulating layer.
The voltage VEN of the control signal is connected to one end of a resistor R1 through a first layer metal line having a width of 2 μm, the surface resistivity of the resistor R1 is about 5000 ohms/square (resistance value is about twenty kiloohms), and the other end of the resistor R1 is connected to the gate of the transistor T1 through a second layer metal line. The gate width of the transistor T1 is about 5 μm, and the gate thereof is connected to one end of the resistor R2 through a first layer metal line. The resistor R2 has the same structure as the resistor R1, and the other end of the resistor R2 is grounded through the first layer metal line. The source of the transistor T1 is grounded through the first-layer metal line, and the drain thereof is connected to one ends of the resistor R3 and the resistor R4 through the first-layer metal line. The resistor R3 has the same constitution and resistance as the resistor R1, and the other end thereof is connected to the power supply VDD through the first-layer metal line. The resistor R4 has the same constitution and resistance as the resistor R1, and the other end thereof is connected to the gate of the transistor T2 through the first-layer metal line. The transistor T2 may have the same structure and gate width as the transistor T1, with its source grounded through the first layer metal line and its drain connected to the gate of the transistor T3 through the first layer metal line. The transistor T3 may have the same structure as the transistor T1, and may have a gate width of 10 μm, a drain connected to the power supply VDD through the first metal line, and a source connected to the gate and the drain of the transistor T4 and the output terminal of the voltage Vout through the first metal line. Here, the transistor T4 has a two-finger gate structure with a gate width of 25 μm, and a source thereof is connected to one end of the diode D1 in the forward direction through a second layer of metal line. The diode D1 has a conductive area of 100 μm 2 and its negative terminal is connected to the forward terminal of the diode D2 by a first layer of metal wire. The diode D2 has the same structure as the diode D1, and the other end thereof is grounded through the second-layer metal line.
On the basis of designing and manufacturing the control circuit based on the gallium arsenide material, the invention further optimizes the chip design and manufacturing process and combines the chip design and manufacturing process with a power amplifier, a low noise amplifier and a switch to form the radio frequency front end chip. As shown in fig. 4, the power amplifier is separately formed on the gallium arsenide HBT chip 12 and is composed of a radio frequency amplifying circuit and a bias circuit connected thereto, and the low noise amplifier, the switch and the control circuit are integrated on the gallium arsenide HBT chip 11. The voltage VEN of the control signal is input to the control circuit, the control circuit is connected with the low noise amplifier, the switch and the shunt circuit, the other control signal C0 and the antenna are both connected with the switch, the switch is connected with the low noise amplifier and the shunt circuit of the radio frequency amplifying circuit, the low noise amplifier is connected with the receiver, and the radio frequency signal is input to the radio frequency amplifying circuit. Therefore, the whole radio frequency front end chip is composed of two wafers made of gallium arsenide materials, namely a power amplifier wafer of a gallium arsenide HBT, a control circuit of a gallium arsenide HEMT and a wafer with a low noise amplifier and a switch integrated, and the design and manufacturing process are greatly simplified.
When transmitting radio frequency signals, the control circuit to which the voltage VEN is applied provides a 3V control signal output to the bias circuit of the power amplifier sufficient to drive the bias circuit to control the radio frequency amplification circuit output of the power amplifier. Meanwhile, the voltage Vout output by the control circuit is matched with another control signal C0, the transmitting end of the switch is opened, the receiving end of the switch is closed, and the radio frequency signal amplified by the power amplifier is sent to the antenna through the switch.
When receiving the radio frequency signal, the control circuit outputs a low-potential voltage Vout to turn off the bias circuit of the power amplifier, and the power amplifier cannot amplify the radio frequency signal. Meanwhile, the low-potential voltage Vout is matched with another control signal C0, the transmitting end of the switch is closed, the receiving end of the switch is opened, the low-noise amplifier is opened, and the weak radio-frequency signal received by the antenna is amplified by the low-noise amplifier and then sent to the receiver.
In addition to a dual-chip implementation of the rf front-end chip described above, if the power amplifier is also made of a gaas HEMT, the power amplifier, low noise amplifier, switch and control circuitry may optionally be integrally integrated on a gaas HEMT chip, and wherein the power amplifier is comprised of connected rf amplifying circuitry and biasing circuitry (not shown). In the chip function design, referring to the foregoing, the voltage VEN of the control signal is input to the control circuit, the control circuit is connected with the low noise amplifier, the switch and the bias circuit, the other control signal C0 and the antenna are both connected with the switch, the switch is connected with the low noise amplifier and the rf amplifying circuit in a shunt path, the low noise amplifier is connected with the receiver, and the rf signal is input to the rf amplifying circuit. Therefore, the whole radio frequency front end chip is formed by only one wafer of gallium arsenide material, and the circuit design and the manufacturing process are greatly simplified.
In summary, the scheme description and the embodiment detailed description of the control circuit based on the gallium arsenide material and the radio frequency front end chip applied by the control circuit are that compared with the control circuit of the traditional silicon-based material CMOS device, the control circuit has outstanding substantive characteristics and remarkable progress, and is characterized in that the control circuit is designed and constructed by using a HEMT transistor and a diode of the gallium arsenide material, the control circuit, a low noise amplifier and a switch can be integrated on a wafer of the same gallium arsenide material, the complexity of research and development design is simplified, the research and development time consumption is shortened, the chip size is reduced, and the manufacturing cost is saved.
In addition to the above embodiments, other embodiments of the present invention are possible, and all technical solutions formed by equivalent substitution or equivalent transformation are within the scope of the present invention as claimed.