3.37 GHz class-F-1 power amplifier with 77% PAE in GaN HEMT technology

Inhalt:
In this paper, the design and implementation of a class-F ^-1 power amplifier (PA) operating at 3.37 GHz in a GaN Hetrojunction Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT) technology is presented. The load transformation network (LTN) is based on transmission-lines. In order to attain high efficiency, second harmonic termination has been optimised by using the DC biasing path, whereas transmission-lines used in symmetry complete the fundamental impedance matching, which results in an optimised LTN. The PA uses a packaged transistor. Experimental results show peak power added efficiency (PAE) of 76.9% and peak drain efficiency of 81.9% at more than 39 dBm peak output power with an associated gain greater than 12.1 dB, when operated from a 30 V supply. Furthermore, a bandwidth of approximately 100MHz for PAE over 61 % and 3 dB-bandwidth of 220 MHz for output power are measured. Index Terms — Class–F ^-1, GaN HEMT, load transformation network (LTN), switching-mode power amplifier (SMPA), output power, power added efficiency (PAE).