RFPA supply modulator using wide-bandwidth linear amplifier with a GaN HEMT output stage

Author

Dongxue Li ; Rodriguez, M. ; Zai, Andrew ; Sardin, David ; Maksimovic, Dragan ; Popovic, Zoya

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr., Comput. & Energy Eng., Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA

fYear

2013

fDate

23-26 June 2013

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

6

Abstract

This paper presents an envelope tracking supply modulator for a high efficiency radiofrequency power amplifier (RFPA). A wide bandwidth linear amplifier using a GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) as a source follower output stage is described. A low bandwidth, high efficiency current controlled Buck converter is used to assist the linear amplifier and improve the system efficiency. Steps towards integration of the supply modulator and the RFPA are given through inclusion of the modulator output stage with an RFPA on a microwave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC). Simulation and experimental results are presented for a 150 MHz bandwidth, 9 V to 27 V output voltage modulator supplying a 10 GHz RFPA.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; MMIC; gallium compounds; high electron mobility transistors; microwave power amplifiers; modulators; power convertors; wide band gap semiconductors; GaN; MMIC; RFPA supply modulator; bandwidth 150 MHz; envelope tracking supply modulator; frequency 10 GHz; gallium nitride HEMT output stage; gallium nitride high-electron mobility transistor; high-efficiency RFPA; high-efficiency radiofrequency power amplifier; low-bandwidth high-efficiency current-controlled buck converter; microwave monolithic integrated circuit; source follower output stage; supply modulator; system efficiency; voltage 9 V to 27 V; wide-bandwidth linear amplifier; Bandwidth; Gallium nitride; HEMTs; Integrated circuit modeling; MMICs; Modulation; Radio frequency; Envelope Tracking; GaN HEMT; Linear Amplifier;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Control and Modeling for Power Electronics (COMPEL), 2013 IEEE 14th Workshop on

Conference_Location

Salt Lake City, UT

ISSN

1093-5142

Print_ISBN

978-1-4673-4914-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/COMPEL.2013.6626453

Filename

6626453