This invention eliminates the need for “capacitor coupling” or “transformer coupling,” and the associated undesirable parasitic capacitance and inductance associated with these coupling techniques when designing high frequency (˜60 GHz) circuits. At this frequency, the distance between two adjacent stages needs to be minimized. A resonant circuit in series with the power or ground leads is used to isolate a biasing signal from a high frequency signal. The introduction of this resonant circuit allows a first stage to be “directly coupled” to a next stage using a metallic trace. The “direct coupling” technique passes both the high frequency signal and the biasing voltage to the next stage. The “direct coupling” approach overcomes the large die area usage when compared to either the “AC coupling” or “transformer coupling” approach since neither capacitors nor transformers are required to transfer the high frequency signals between stages.

An amplifier system having: an amplifier having a linear operating region where an output signal produced by the amplifier at the output terminal has a power level increasing proportionally with the increasing input signal power level up to a compression region of the amplifier where the output power is inhibited from increasing with increasing input signal power; and a DC current limiting circuit, coupled between a DC power supply and the amplifier, to: supply DC current from the DC power supply that is equal to quiescent current to the amplifier from the DC power supply when the amplifier operates in the linear region; enable the amplifier to draw increasing DC current from the DC power supply above the quiescent current with increasing input signal power until the output signal power reaches the desired compression point level which is lower than that of a stand-alone amplifier without the DC current limiting circuit; and, then limits the current drawn by the amplifier from the DC power supply.

An exemplary FET includes a substrate and multiple vertically stacked layer groups with each layer group having a quantum well semiconductive layer and a nonconductive layer adjacent the first quantum well semiconductive layer. Conductive source and drain electrodes in conductive contact with the semiconductive layers. A 3-dimensional ridge of the stacked layer groups is defined between spaced apart first and second trenches which are between the source and drain electrodes. A continuous conductive side gate is disposed on the sides and top of the ridge for inducing a field into the semiconductive layers. A gate electrode is disposed in conductive contact with the conductive side gate.

An exemplary FET includes a substrate and multiple vertically stacked layer groups with each layer group having a quantum well semiconductive layer and a nonconductive layer adjacent the first quantum well semiconductive layer. Conductive source and drain electrodes in conductive contact with the semiconductive layers. A 3-dimensional ridge of the stacked layer groups is defined between spaced apart first and second trenches which are between the source and drain electrodes. A continuous conductive side gate is disposed on the sides and top of the ridge for inducing a field into the semiconductive layers. A gate electrode is disposed in conductive contact with the conductive side gate.

An RF tuner is described for handling RF signals in a broad frequency range and a broad power range while maintaining high linearity and tolerating high power blockers. A continuous feedback loop comprising a substantially linear LNA and an RF RSSI can adjust the power of the RF signal on the RF side. A substantially linear, variable gain transconductor may convert and amplify the voltage of the RF signal to a current signal. The converted signal may be down converted and filtered to an IF or baseband signal. An IF or baseband RSSI may measure the power of the down converted and filtered signal. The measured power may be compared against a preferred value to adjust the amplification of the transconductor.

RF communications circuitry, which includes a first tunable RF filter and an RF power amplifier (PA), is disclosed. The first tunable RF filter includes a pair of weakly coupled resonators, and receives and filters a first upstream RF signal to provide a first filtered RF signal. The RF PA is coupled to the first tunable RF filter, and receives and amplifies an RF input signal to provide an RF output signal.

RF communications circuitry, which includes a first tunable RF filter and an RF power amplifier (PA), is disclosed. The first tunable RF filter includes a pair of weakly coupled resonators, and receives and filters a first upstream RF signal to provide a first filtered RF signal. The RF PA is coupled to the first tunable RF filter, and receives and amplifies an RF input signal to provide an RF output signal.

An adaptive power amplifier and a radio frequency transmitter thereof are described. The radio frequency transmitter is a transmitter to transmit a transmission signal for a wireless communication system. The radio frequency transmitter includes at least one direct-current (DC) to direct-current (DC) converter coupled to an external power supply device for operation, a digital-to-analog converter configured to convert a digital signal into an analog signal, a filter configured to filter a harmonic component of the analog signal to generate an input signal, a RF up-converter configured to up-convert the input signal according to a desired channel frequency for generating a modulated signal, and a power amplifying circuit coupled to the DC-to-DC converter and the external power supply device, for selectively receiving one of different supply voltages for operation, and amplifying the modulated signal to generate a RF output signal.

An adaptive power amplifier and a radio frequency transmitter thereof are described. The radio frequency transmitter is a transmitter to transmit a transmission signal for a wireless communication system. The radio frequency transmitter includes at least one direct-current (DC) to direct-current (DC) converter coupled to an external power supply device for operation, a digital-to-analog converter configured to convert a digital signal into an analog signal, a filter configured to filter a harmonic component of the analog signal to generate an input signal, a RF up-converter configured to up-convert the input signal according to a desired channel frequency for generating a modulated signal, and a power amplifying circuit coupled to the DC-to-DC converter and the external power supply device, for selectively receiving one of different supply voltages for operation, and amplifying the modulated signal to generate a RF output signal.

A semiconductor device includes: a semiconductor substrate whose contour is a pentagon; a front-stage amplifier formed relatively near a vertex of the pentagon of the semiconductor substrate; and a rear-stage amplifier formed relatively near a side opposed to the vertex of the semiconductor substrate and amplifying an output from the front-stage amplifier.