A 44 dBm 1.0–3.0 GHz GaN power amplifier with over 45% PAE at 6 dB back-off

Author

Gustafsson, David ; Andersson, Christer M. ; Hellberg, Richard ; Fager, Christian

Author_Institution

Dept. of Microtechnol. & Nanosci., Chalmers Univ. of Technol., Goteborg, Sweden

fYear

2013

fDate

2-7 June 2013

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

In this paper we present a 1.0-3.0 GHz GaN power amplifier with significant back-off power added efficiency (PAE) enhancement. The design of the PA, which has two digitally controlled RF inputs, was derived from a practical combining network without assuming any idealized conditions at the higher harmonics. By using linear multi-harmonic calculations, a GaN PA design was optimized for high efficiency with a 6.7 dB peak to average power ratio (PAPR) WCDMA signal over 108% fractional bandwidth. Measurements on the assembled circuit demonstrated 44 ± 0.9 dBm maximum output power, and a drain efficiency and PAE at 6 dB output power back-off (OPBO) larger than 48% and 45%, respectively.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; gallium compounds; integrated circuit design; power amplifiers; wide band gap semiconductors; GaN; GaN PA design; GaN power amplifier; PAE; PAPR; WCDMA signal; back-off power added efficiency; digitally controlled RF input; drain efficiency; fractional bandwidth; frequency 1.0 GHz to 3.0 GHz; linear multiharmonic calculation; output power back-off; peak-to-average power ratio; Bandwidth; Gallium nitride; Harmonic analysis; Power generation; Radio frequency; Transistors; Transmission line measurements; Chireix; Doherty; GaN; gallium nitride; high efficiency; outphasing; power amplifiers; wideband;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Symposium Digest (IMS), 2013 IEEE MTT-S International

Conference_Location

Seattle, WA

ISSN

0149-645X

Print_ISBN

978-1-4673-6177-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MWSYM.2013.6697769

Filename

6697769