SUCCESS STORY
Qorvo
Qorvo Solves Entire Non-Uniform Distributed
Power Amplifier MMIC Using AWR Software
Application
X
MMIC Power Amplifier
Software
X
Cadence
®
AWR Design Environment
®
Software
Portfolio, including:
ɢ Cadence AWR
®
AXIEM
®
Planar Electromagnetic (EM)
Simulator
Benefits
X
Speed of simulations
X
High accuracy
X
Design ef ficiency
Figure 1: Photograph of the NDPA MMIC
Key Challenges
Qorvo, a leader in high-performance RF components for
wireless communication, designs wideband power
amplifier monolithic microwave integrated circuits
(MMICs) suitable for electronic warfare (EW) systems.
These systems require amplifiers with high power, wide
bandwidth, and high efficiency to which Qorvo
researchers have developed power amplifier MMICs
utilizing the non-uniform distributed power amplifier
(NDPA) approach. Showcasing impressive results, these
NDPA MMICs (Figure 1) are designed for saturated
operation.
This requires accurate electromagnetic data up to the
5th-7th harmonic frequency, which results in a very large
mesh/matrix. Because solving the entire structure was not
practical, it was never attempted, but upon hearing about
the nearly linear scaling in the AWR AXIEM planar EM
simulator within the AWR Design Environment platform,
Qorvo fellow Chuck Campbell elected to take the AXIEM
challenge.
