Title :
Design of Broadband Highly Efficient Harmonic-Tuned Power Amplifier Using In-Band Continuous Class-
Mode Transferring
Author :
Chen, Kenle ; Peroulis, Dimitrios
Author_Institution :
Sch. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN, USA
Abstract :
A novel methodology for designing high-frequency broadband harmonic-tuned power amplifiers (PAs) is presented in this paper. Specifically, a hybrid PA mode, transferring between continuous inverse Class-F and continuous Class-F, is for the first time employed to design PAs with optimal performance over more than-an-octave bandwidth. A GaN PA is designed and realized based on this mode-transferring operation using a three-stage transmission-line-based low-pass matching network. Simulation and experimental results show that an in-band PA-mode transferring between continuous Class- F-1 and continuous Class-F is successfully performed. The implemented PA achieves a measured 87% bandwidth from 1.3 to 3.3 GHz, while exhibiting a state-of-the-art performance of >;10-dB gain, 60%-84% efficiency, and 10-W output power throughout this band. Furthermore, modulated evaluation is carried out using a 300-kHz bandwidth 16-quadrature amplitude-modulation signal. Good linearity performance is measured with adjacent channel power ratio from -20 to -35 dBc and an error vector magnitude of 4%-9% over the entire bandwidth.
Keywords :
III-V semiconductors; UHF power amplifiers; gallium compounds; microwave power amplifiers; quadrature amplitude modulation; wide band gap semiconductors; wideband amplifiers; 16-quadrature amplitude-modulation signal; GaN; adjacent channel power ratio; bandwidth 1.3 GHz to 3.3 GHz; bandwidth 300 kHz; continuous inverse Class-F; error vector magnitude; high-frequency broadband highly efficient harmonic-tuned power amplifier; hybrid in-band PA-mode transferring; in-band continuous class-F-1-F mode transferring operation; power 10 W; three-stage transmission-line-based low-pass matching network; Bandwidth; Broadband communication; Harmonic analysis; Impedance; Power amplifiers; Standards; Transistors; Broadband; GaN; continuous Class-F; continuous inverse Class-F; efficiency; harmonic tuned; low-pass matching network (MN); mode transferring; power amplifier (PA); synthesis;
Journal_Title :
Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TMTT.2012.2221142