DC boosting effect of active bias circuits and its optimization for class-AB InGaP-GaAs HBT power amplifiers

In this paper, dc sourcing capability (DSC), which is a very important consideration in design of active bias circuits for power amplifiers based on bipolar technologies, will be explained. The nonlinear effect of bias circuits on the dc sourcing characteristics has been analyzed with simplified circuits for power amplifiers using the Volterra series. The analysis shows that the second-order distortion generated by a bias buffer transistor can boost bias level of the RF transistor to compensate finite DSC available in the absence of this effect. The bias-level boosting due to RF injection can be optimized by tuning the value of a series resistor between the emitter of the buffer transistor and the base of the RF transistor. Amplifiers with different series resistors have been implemented and tested with an IS95-B code-division multiple-access signal at the cellular band (824-849 MHz). The experimental results verify that a circuit-level optimization for the second-order distortion of the bias circuits is very important for optimizing the linearity and efficiency of the HBT amplifiers.