Toshiba says it has developed a highly efficient CMOS power amplifier that extends talk time for mobile phones.
All mobile phone have power amplifiers to communicate with base stations. The output power is affected by distance from a base station or the characteristics of the information.
A typical power amplifier uses a single supply voltage to generate high output power, to support long distance communication. However, this degrades efficiency by consuming too much power in locations where low output power is sufficient.
Power efficiency
Supply voltage control is an effective approach to improving efficiency but is not commonly employed as it increases the component count.
"We see this advance as only the first step forward in our development," says Kohei Onizuka, one of the researchers on the project, "we will continue to improve the technology and enhance its performance, aiming to bring it to high-powered next generation mobile phones and smart phones in a couple of years."
