A Simple Method to Estimate the Output Power and Efficiency Load–Pull Contours of Class-B Power Amplifiers

Author

Pedro, Jose C. ; Nunes, Luis C. ; Cabral, Pedro M.

Author_Institution

Dept. de Electron., Telecomun. e Inf., Univ. de Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

Volume

63

Issue

4

fYear

2015

fDate

Apr-15

Firstpage

1239

Lastpage

1249

Abstract

This paper describes a simple method to estimate the output power and efficiency load-pull contours of a class-B power amplifier (PA). Using successively improved-but still simple and intuitive-field-effect transistor nonlinear i_DS (v_GS,v_DS) current models, this work starts by explaining the poor efficiency predictions provided by the Cripps load-line method, to then derive refined expressions to predict the output power load-pull contours and a novel analysis that produces useful estimates of the efficiency load-pull contours. These estimates are believed to constitute an invaluable tool for the analysis and design of single-ended class-B or Doherty PAs.

Keywords

field effect transistors; microwave power amplifiers; semiconductor device models; Class-B power amplifiers; Cripps load-line method; efficiency load-pull contours; field-effect transistor; nonlinear i_DS current models; output power; Field effect transistors; Load modeling; Microwave circuits; Microwave transistors; Power generation; Predictive models; Class B; efficiency; load–pull contours; load-line theory; power amplifiers (PAs); semiconductor device modeling;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9480

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TMTT.2015.2403318

Filename

7047890