A 10-MHz GaN HEMT DC/DC Boost Converter for Power Amplifier Applications

AlGaN/GaN HEMTs show low on-state resistance and small gate capacitances, which makes them good candidates for switching applications. Up to now, their exploitations in dc/dc converters have been largely investigated in high power electronics but with switching frequencies under 1 MHz. In this brief, the potentialities of GaN HEMTs are investigated for high-speed dc/dc converters. To this aim, a 10-MHz GaN 16-34-V boost converter with above-90% efficiency is presented. Such converters are well suited for high-efficiency power amplifiers based on dynamic bias control for high peak-to-average-power-ratio applications.