X-Band High-Efficiency Continuous Class B Power Amplifier GaN MMIC Assisted by Input Second-Harmonic Tuning

• Main Authors: Chen Jin, Yuan Gao, Wei Chen, Jianhua Huang, Zhiyu Wang, Jiongjiong Mo, Faxin Yu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-11-01
• Series: Electronics
• Subjects: gan; power amplifier; high efficiency
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/8/11/1312

This paper presents a high-efficiency continuous class B power amplifier MMIC (Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit) from 8 GHz to 10.5 GHz, fabricated with 0.25 μm GaN-on-SiC technology. The Pedro load-line method was performed to calculate the optimum load of the GaN field-effect transistor (FET) for efficiency enhancement. Optimized by an output second-harmonic tuned network, fundamental to second-harmonic impedance, mapping was established point-to-point within a broad frequency band, which approached the classic continuous class B mode with an expanded high-efficiency bandwidth. Moreover, the contribution to the output capacitance of the FET was introduced into the output second-harmonic tuned network, which simplified the structure of the output matching network. Assisted by the second-harmonic source-pull technique, the input second-harmonic tuned network was optimized to improve the efficiency of the power amplifier over the operation band. The measurement results showed 51−59% PAE (Power Added Efficiency) and 19.8−21.2 dB power gain with a saturated power of 40.8−42.2 dBm from 8 GHz to 10.5 GHz. The size of the chip was 3.2 × 2.4 mm².