Over 10MHz bandwidth envelope-tracking DC/DC converter for flexible high power GaN amplifiers

Author

Le Gallou, Nicolas ; Sardin, David ; Delepaut, Christophe ; Campovecchio, Michel ; Rochette, Stephane

Author_Institution

ESTEC, ESA, Noordwijk, Netherlands

fYear

2011

fDate

5-10 June 2011

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

This paper describes a fast envelope-tracking circuit capable of 10 MHz (up to 17.5 MHz) bandwidth based on RF GaN switching devices and 50 MHz switching frequency. The efficiency of the VHF converter is 84% to 90% which is comparable to a conventional DC/DC converter for spaceborne application. A demonstrator has been built and mated with a RF GaN HEMT output stage. The C/I measurement for 10-12W RF output power close to saturation show a linearity improvement by 5-8 dB and an efficiency improvement of up to 8 points when compared to the case of no tracking circuit.

Keywords

DC-DC power convertors; III-V semiconductors; gallium compounds; power HEMT; power amplifiers; radiofrequency amplifiers; tracking; wide band gap semiconductors; C-I measurement; GaN; HEMT output stage; RF switching device; VHF converter; bandwidth 10 MHz; bandwidth envelope-tracking DC-DC converter; efficiency improvement; high power amplifier; linearity improvement; switching frequency; tracking circuit; Gallium nitride; HEMTs; Indexes; Pulse width modulation; Radio frequency; Resonant frequency; Switches; DC/DC converter; GaN technology; HPA; SSPA; envelope-tracking;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Microwave Symposium Digest (MTT), 2011 IEEE MTT-S International

Conference_Location

Baltimore, MD

ISSN

0149-645X

Print_ISBN

978-1-61284-754-2

Electronic_ISBN

0149-645X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MWSYM.2011.5972825

Filename

5972825