Design Procedure of Quasi-Class-E Power Amplifier for Low-Breakdown-Voltage Devices

This paper presents new design procedure for a general class-E power amplifier, here referred to as quasi-class-E, with finite dc-feed inductance and switch on-resistance and variable duty cycle under variable voltage switching (VVS), and variable derivative voltage switching (VDS), taking into account the switch breakdown voltage. It is shown that for non-zero switch on-resistance in class-E power amplifier, zero voltage switching (ZVS) and zero derivative switching (ZDS) conditions do not necessarily result in maximum efficiency. Hence, by assuming VVS and VDS, new design equations are derived. The new equations can be solved with a simple and fast numerical method in MATLAB. The theoretical results show efficiency improvement for quasi-class-E power amplifier compared to conventional designs. Circuit simulations confirm the validity of the theoretical results.