Over 65% PAE GaN voltage-mode class d power amplifier for 465 MHz operation using bootstrap drive

Author

Nakamizo, Hideyuki ; Mukai, Kenji ; Shinjo, Shintaro ; Gheidi, Hamed ; Asbeck, Peter

Author_Institution

Mitsubishi Electr. Corp., Kamakura, Japan

fYear

2015

fDate

25-28 Jan. 2015

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

3

Abstract

We report a digitally-driven switching-mode amplifier using GaN devices in Voltage-Mode Class D operation, for use at 465 MHz (the recently designated frequency for LTE Band 31). The amplifier is fabricated as an integrated circuit including output devices and drivers. The output circuit employs two stacked GaN FETs; a bootstrap-drive configuration is used in order to increase the driver-stage efficiency for the uppermost GaN FET. The GaN VMCD amplifier achieves peak power-added efficiency of 66.6%, and an output power of 3.3W. At 6dB power backoff, power-added efficiency of 36.3% is achieved. These power-added efficiency values are the highest for reported GaN VMCD amplifiers at a commercial wireless frequency.

Keywords

CMOS digital integrated circuits; III-V semiconductors; UHF integrated circuits; UHF power amplifiers; bootstrap circuits; driver circuits; gallium compounds; wide band gap semiconductors; GaN; LTE band 31; PAE voltage-mode class D power amplifier; VMCD amplifier; bootstrap-drive configuration; commercial wireless frequency; digital CMOS circuits; digitally-driven switching-mode amplifier; driver-stage efficiency; efficiency 36.3 percent; frequency 465 MHz; integrated circuit; power 3.3 W; power-added efficiency; stacked GaN FETs; CMOS integrated circuits; Field effect transistors; Gallium nitride; MMICs; Power amplifiers; Power measurement; Switches; GaN; PAE; VMCD; bootstrap; power amplifiers; switching-mode amplifiers;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Power Amplifiers for Wireless and Radio Applications (PAWR), 2015 IEEE Topical Conference on

Conference_Location

San Diego, CA

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PAWR.2015.7139202

Filename

7139202