Design Methodology of High-Efficiency Contiguous Mode

Harmonically Tuned Power Amplifiers

Tushar Sharma, Ramzi Darraji, and Fadhel Ghannouchi
iRadio Lab, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, Alberta, T2N4K6, Canada

Abstract —— This paper presents a design methodology for II. PA MODELING AND WAVEFORM SYNTHESIS
high-efficiency broadband power amplifiers (PAs). The
continuous class-F PA operation is extended to a contiguous The generalized drain voltage for third harmonically
set of voltage/current waveforms providing a design area for tuned (class-F) PAs can be written as a function of voltage
targeted drain efficiency of greater than 78.5%. The proposed gain function () and third harmonic voltage coefficient
methodology relaxes the design constraints by utilizing a
different set of voltage waveforms in extracting the impedance ( k3 ). The addition of third harmonic component to the
design space while ensuring that the device operates below the output voltage increases the waveform minimum value and
limit of breakdown. As such, the proposed methodology shapes it with an aim of maximizing fundamental
provides device reliability under the broadband operation. component. Considering second harmonic impedance to be
For the experimental validation, Cree 10-W gallium nitride zero, the drain voltage (Vds) waveform is given by
(GaN) transistor is used. The PA outputs more than 10W
power with power added efficiency (PAE) greater than 75%
Vds =
with a peak PAE of 85%. This performance is achieved over Vdc − (k3 ) ⋅ (Vdc − Vk )[cos  + k3 cos 3] (1)
the frequency band 550 to 950 MHz. where Vdc is the DC supply and Vk is the knee voltage of the
Index Terms — Broadband, continuous class-F, efficiency, device.
GaN, power amplifier. The continuous class-F PA provides a degree of freedom
(γ), which is multiplied with (1) to maintain high power and
efficiency over a wide bandwidth. The continuous class-F
I. INTRODUCTION
voltage can be generalized as
The next generation wireless communication standards Vds =
make the high-efficiency power amplifiers (PAs) a very (1 − (k3 ) ∙ [cos  + k3 cos 3]) ∙ (1 −  sin ) (2)
critical radio frequency (RF) circuit component. Switch- where  can be written as a function of k3 as [5]
mode PAs have been a popular choice among high- −1 1
⎧ if k3 ≤ −
efficiency PAs but faces a challenge of precise harmonic ⎪3k3 − 1 3k3 − 1 9

conditions, leading to non-overlapped drain voltage and (k3 ) = 3 3k3 (3)
current waveforms. The continuous class-F presented in ⎨ 1 1
⎪ if − ≤ k3 ≤ 0
[1]–[4] solves the inherent narrow band limitation by ⎩ 1 + k3 9
offering multiple impedance solutions that can be 1.2
distributed over a broad bandwidth. The design constraints δ = 2/ 3
Voltage Gain Function (G)

1.1
in continuous class-F PAs, however, are still relatively
difficult to implement due to the need of very precise tuning 1
of fundamental, second, and third harmonic impedances
over a large bandwidth. The resulting design space for 0.9
k3= -0.16
continuous class-F operation cannot be matched using 0.8
passive networks.
This work addresses the limitations of continuous class- 0.7

F PAs by providing an extended design space that enables

0.6
more flexibility in the implementation of high-efficiency -1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0
k
PAs. The proposed approach identifies a cluster of 3

voltage/current waveforms that provides a contiguous
design space, thereby easing the implementation of the
matching network. In addition, the voltage waveforms are
studied to ensure the device operates below breakdown
offering more reliable PA operation. The remainder of this
paper is organized as follows. In Section II, voltage and
current waveforms are derived. An extended design space
for broadband PA implementation is presented in section
III. Conclusions are drawn in Section IV.
Fig 1.Voltage gain function δ versus k3.
As seen in Fig. 1, the maximum  of 2/√3 is achieved
for k3 = −1/6 ≈ 0.16 which gives standard class-F square
voltage. Since class-F requires an open circuit condition at
odd harmonics and short circuit condition at even
harmonics, the half-sinusodial drain current waveform is
formed by selecting class-B bias condition . Considering up

978-1-4673-9806-0/16/$31.00 © 2016 IEEE 148 RWS 2016

to 4th harmonic components, the normalized drain current III. PA DESIGN SPACE AND IMPLEMENTATION
(ids ) is given by
1 1 2 2
ids () = + cos  + cos 2 − cos 4
 2 3 15 (4) k3= 0
k3= 0.08
Using the drain voltage and current components in (1)– k3= 0.16

(4) the, theoretical drain efficiency () can be evaluated as Z2L

function of k3 and is given by
(k3 ) =
Z3L
Z1L
⎧ Vk 1⎫ −1
⎪ 2 1 − V  ⎛
⎪ ⎞ if k3 ≤ − ⎪
9⎪
dc 3k3 − 1 3k3 − 1
 (5)
⎨ ⎝ 3 3k3 ⎠ ⎬
⎪ 1 − Vk   1 
⎪ 1
if − ≤ k3 ≤ 0⎪
⎪ (a)
⎩2 Vdc 1 + k3 9 ⎭
95

90 η = 90.6 % simulated
85
measured
Efficiency (%)

80
η = 78.5 %
75
k3=-
=-0.16
-0.16
70 k3= 0
k3= 0.08
65
k3=-0.41
0.41 k3=0
0 k3= 0.16
60

55

50
-1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0
k (b)
3

Fig 2. Theoretical drain efficiency versus k3. Fig 4. (a) Design space for region 2 (−0.16 ≤ k3 ≤ 0). (b)
Simulated and measured design space.
As seen in Fig. 2, the third harmonic voltage coefficient As k3 is varied within the selected region, a set of adjacent
−0.41 ≤ k3 ≤ 0 , provides high efficiency region with  ≥ extended design spaces are obtained while sweeping −1 ≤
78.5%. The range for k3 is swept and corresponding voltage  ≤ 1. Using the voltage and current components (1) – (4)
waveforms are analyzed for two distinct regions i.e. the fundamental (Z1L), second (Z2L) and third harmonic
−0.41 ≤ k3 ≤ −0.16 (Region 1) and −0.16 ≤ k3 ≤ 0 impedance (Z3L) can be computed as function of the
(Region 2). As seen in Fig. 3, the voltage waveforms for optimum impedance of the standard class-B mode, Ropt, as
region 1, exhibits ripples both at maxima and minima,
which impact the reliability of the device under test. On L = ((k3 ) −  ∙ ) ∙ Ropt
other hand, region 2 allows more relaxed operation for high (6)
power efficiency and is thus chosen for extraction and 3 (k3 ) k3 ∙ (k3 )
2L = +jRopt   −  (7)
implementation of PA design space. 4 2 2
k3=-0.41 k3=-0.29 k3=-0.16 k3=-0.08 k3=0 3L = ∞ (8)
2.5 1
Region 1 Current where
Region 2
Vdc − Vk
Ropt =
Normalized Voltage (V)

2 0.8
Normalized Current (A)

Im /2 (9)
1.5 0.6 and Im is the peak current of the device.
Fig. 4(a) shows the extended design space for the three
1 0.4
selected harmonic coefficients k3 = −0.16 ( = 90.6%),
k3 = −0.08 ( = 85.36%) and k3 = 0 ( = 78.5%). As it
0.5 0.2
can be inferred from Fig. 4(a), the real part of the
fundamental impedance changes providing with a design
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
0 area instead of single set of points offering more flexibilty
Phase (Degrees) in design of the output matching network. Futhermore the
Fig 3. Voltage waveforms versus k3.

149
 Fig 6. Photograph
100 of PA prototype 90
90
PAE (%) Pout (dBm) Gain (dB) 550MHz
80

Power Added Efficiency (%)

650MHz
PAE (%), Pout (dBm), Gain (dB)

80 750MHz
70
850MHz
70
60 950MHz
60
50
50

40 40

30 30

20 20
10 10
0
550 600 650 700 750 800 850 900 950 0
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Frequency (MHz)
Output Power (dBm)
Fig.5. (a) Measured PAE, output power and gain across the frequency band of 550 to 950 MHz. (b) PAE versus output power.

maximum sweep on second harmonic reactance is given IV. CONCLUSIONS

by Z2Lmax = ±j1.178Ropt (k3 )(1 − k3 ) . Using the
equation, it can be deduced that the sweeping area for
second harmonic reactance increases as higher efficiency
is looked for. For practical implementation, the theoretical
design space is transformed to package plane using the 10
W GaN HEMT transistor (CGH40010F) large signal model
provided by Cree Inc. The output matching network is
designed to fit in with this derived theoretical design space
The proposed methodology extends the design of
continuous class-F operation to more realizable broadband
high-efficiency PAs. Furthermore, the paper focuses on
studying and realizing the device reliability for broadband
PA operation. In measurements, a PAE higher than 75%
was measured over a fractional bandwidth of 53.3% (550-
950MHz).

Normalized Power Spectral Density (dB)

20
Non-Linearized Output
at package plane (Гpackage) from 550 to 950 MHz. As seen 10 Linearized Output

in Fig. 4(b), the measured trajectory (Гmeasured) follows quite 0

close correspondence with the simulated output matching -10

network (Гpackage). In measurements a gate bias of -2.8 V -20

was chosen with quiescent current of 100 mA and drain bias -30

of 28 V. The PA prototype shown in Fig. 6, was measured -40

-50
using the continuous wave (CW) signal from 550-950 MHz
-60
with step of 50 MHz. The results are reported in Fig. 5(a).
-70
The PA outputs power of greater than 40 dBm, gain above -20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
Frequency Offset (MHz)
15 dB and measured power added efficiency (PAE)
Fig 7. Measured output spectra before and after DPD.
between 75-85% for 53.3% of fractional bandwidth (550 to
950 MHz). The output power versus PAE for different
frequencies within the band is shown in Fig. 5(b). The REFERENCES
performance of the designed PA is also assessed using
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Fig 6. Photograph of PA prototype

150