Gallium-nitride power transistor (GaN HEMT) and integrated circuit technologies have matured dramatically over the last few years, and many hundreds of thousands of devices have been manufactured and fielded in applications ranging from pulsed radars and counter-IED jammers to CATV modules and fourth-generation infrastructure base-stations. GaN HEMT devices, exhibiting high power densities coupled with high breakdown voltages, have opened up the possibilities for highly efficient power amplifiers (PAs) exploiting the principles of waveform engineered designs. This paper summarizes the unique advantages of GaN HEMTs compared to other power transistor technologies, with examples of where such features have been exploited. Since RF power densities of GaN HEMTs are many times higher than other technologies, much attention has also been given to thermal management-examples of both commercial “off-the-shelf” packaging as well as custom heat-sinks are described. The very desirable feature of having accurate large-signal models for both discrete transistors and monolithic microwave integrated circuit foundry are emphasized with a number of circuit design examples. GaN HEMT technology has been a major enabler for both very broadband high-PAs and very high-efficiency designs. This paper describes examples of broadband amplifiers, as well as several of the main areas of high-efficiency amplifier design-notably Class-D, Class-E, Class-F, and Class-J approaches, Doherty PAs, envelope-tracking techniques, and Chireix outphasing.

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A Review of GaN on SiC High Electron-Mobility Power Transistors and MMICs

Recent analysis by manufacturers and network operators has shown that current wireless networks are not very energy efficient, particularly the base stations by which terminals access services from the network. In response to this observation the Mobile Virtual Centre of Excellence (VCE) Green Radio project was established in 2009 to establish how significant energy savings may be obtained in future wireless systems. This article discusses the technical background to the project and discusses models of current energy consumption in base station devices. It also describes some of the most promising research directions in reducing the energy consumption of future base stations.

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Green radio: radio techniques to enable energy-efficient wireless networks

Before the emergence of ultra-wideband (UWB) radios, widely used wireless communications were based on sinusoidal carriers, and impulse technologies were employed only in specific applications (e.g. radar). In 2002, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) allowed unlicensed operation between 3.1–10.6 GHz for UWB communication, using a wideband signal format with a low EIRP level (−41.3dBm/MHz). UWB communication systems then emerged as an alternative to narrowband systems and significant effort in this area has been invested at the regulatory, commercial, and research levels.

IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques and Antennas and Propagation Announce a Joint Special Issue on Ultra-Wideband (UWB) Technology

IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference

Electrically-small antennas present high-Q impedances characterized by large reactances and small radiation resistances. For such antennas, the effectiveness of passive matching is severely limited by gain-bandwidth theory, which predicts narrow bandwidths and/or poor gain. With receivers, the inability to resolve this impedance mismatch results in poor signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio, as compared to using a full-size antenna. With transmitters, the consequence is poor power efficiency. However, in many applications full-size antennas are impractical, and a means is required to effectively match their electrically-small counterparts. This paper presents the technique of non-Foster impedance matching, which employs active networks of negative inductors and capacitors to bypass the restrictions of gain-bandwidth theory. We first review the origins and development of non-Foster impedance matching, and then present experimental results for the non-Foster impedance matching of electrically-small dipoles and monopoles. For receivers, our best measurements on the antenna range demonstrate up to 20 dB improvement in S/N over 20-120 MHz; for transmitters, we show a power efficiency improvement which exceeds a factor of two over an 5% bandwidth about 20 MHz with an average signal power of 1 W to the radiation resistance.

Non-Foster Impedance Matching of Electrically-Small Antennas

The design and implementation of a class-J mode RF power amplifier is described. The experimental results indicate the class-J mode's potential in achieving high efficiency across extensive bandwidth, while maintaining predistortable levels of linearity. A commercially available 10 W GaN (gallium nitride) high electron mobility transistor device was used in this investigation, together with a combination of high power waveform measurements, active harmonic load-pull and theoretical analysis of the class-J mode. Targeting a working bandwidth of 1.5-2.5 GHz an initial power amplifier (PA) design was based on basic class-J theory and computer-aided design simulation. This realized a 50% bandwidth with measured drain efficiency of 60%-70%. A second PA design iteration has realized near-rated output power of 39 dBm and improved efficiency beyond the original 2.5 GHz target, hence extending efficient PA operation across a bandwidth of 1.4-2.6 GHz, centered at 2 GHz. This second iteration made extensive use of active harmonic load-pull and waveform measurements, and incorporated a novel design methodology for achieving predistortable linearity. The class-J amplifier has been found to be more realizable than conventional class-AB modes, with a better compromise between power and efficiency tradeoffs over a substantial RF bandwidth.

A Methodology for Realizing High Efficiency Class-J in a Linear and Broadband PA

A novel formulation for the voltage waveforms in high efficiency linear power amplifiers is described. This formulation demonstrates that a constant optimum efficiency and output power can be obtained over a continuum of solutions by utilizing appropriate harmonic reactive impedance terminations. A specific example is confirmed experimentally. This new formulation has some important implications for the possibility of realizing broadband >10% high efficiency linear RF power amplifiers.

On the Continuity of High Efficiency Modes in Linear RF Power Amplifiers

The extended continuous class-F mode RF power amplifier (PA) is presented for the first time. The introduction and experimental validation of this novel PA mode demonstrates a new design space over a wide band of frequencies. This paper will show that high output power and drain efficiency, equivalent to the class-F mode, can be maintained by varying the reactive components of fundamental and second harmonic impedances in accordance with the new formulation of the voltage waveform. Additionally it will be shown that, by varying both phase and magnitude of the fundamental and second harmonic impedances, a yet wider design space can be achieved, where the efficiency is maintained at a level greater than a certain target value. For the validation of this new theory, an experimental investigation was carried out on GaAs pseudomorphic HEMT devices and demonstrates that high output power and drain efficiency between 75%-83% can be achieved over a wide range of fundamental and second harmonic loads.

On the Extension of the Continuous Class-F Mode Power Amplifier

A novel power amplifier (PA) architecture, the Load Modulated Balanced PA (LMBA), is presented. The LMBA is able to modulate the impedance seen by a pair of RF power transistors in a quadrature balanced configuration, by varying the amplitude and phase of an external control signal. This enables power and efficiency to be optimized dynamically at specific power backoff levels and frequencies. Unlike the Doherty PA, the load seen by the active devices can be modulated upwards or downwards, both resistively and reactively, with minimal loss of power combination efficiency. The LMBA is presented as a potentially disruptive technique which enables any specific amplifier characteristic to be controlled dynamically over wide signal amplitude and frequency ranges.

An Efficient Broadband Reconfigurable Power Amplifier Using Active Load Modulation

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Steve C. Cripps

Papers

A Methodology for Realizing High Efficiency Class-J in a Linear and Broadband PA

On the Continuity of High Efficiency Modes in Linear RF Power Amplifiers

On the Extension of the Continuous Class-F Mode Power Amplifier

An Efficient Broadband Reconfigurable Power Amplifier Using Active Load Modulation

RF and Microwave Power Amplifier and Transmitter Technologies — Part 1