An AlGaN/GaN class-S amplifier for RF-communication signals

Author

Leberer, Ralf ; Reber, Rolf ; Oppermann, Martin

Author_Institution

EADS Deutschland GmbH, 89077 Ulm, Germany

fYear

2008

fDate

15-20 June 2008

Firstpage

85

Lastpage

88

Abstract

A Gallium-Nitride (GaN) current switched class-S amplifier for 450 MHz RF-signals is presented. A FPGA board is used to generate a band-pass delta sigma sequence with 1800 Mbit/s. This quasi digital signal is amplified to the required gate voltage swing for the HEMTs using a commercial available preamplifier. The AlGaN/GaN-HEMTs are driven in a high efficient switch mode. Linearity is preserved using the class-S architecture. Limits of this classical amplifier architecture are shown and discussed. Simulation results are presented and the realized class-S demonstrator is shown.

Keywords

aluminium compounds; field programmable gate arrays; gallium compounds; power amplifiers; radiofrequency amplifiers; AlGaN-GaN; FPGA board; HEMT; RF-communication signals; band-pass delta sigma sequence; bit rate 1800 Mbit/s; current switched class-S amplifier; frequency 450 MHz; power amplifiers; Aluminum gallium nitride; Gallium nitride; Linearity; Power amplifiers; Pulse amplifiers; Pulse modulation; Radiofrequency amplifiers; Signal generators; Switches; Voltage; GaN; HF radio communication; Switching amplifier; class-S amplifier; gallium nitride; power amplifiers;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Symposium Digest, 2008 IEEE MTT-S International

Conference_Location

Atlanta, GA

ISSN

0149-645X

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-1780-3

Electronic_ISBN

0149-645X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MWSYM.2008.4633109

Filename

4633109