Analysis of source second-harmonic-controlled wideband extended series of continuous modes power amplifiers

Abstract

In this article, an in-depth analysis is presented for the first time by considering the impact of the input nonlinearity caused by gate-source capacitance (Cgs) on the performance and broadband design of extended series of continuous modes (ESCMs) power amplifiers (PAs). The conclusion of the analysis shows that the drain current waveforms of ESCMs will be altered, resulting in the overlapping region with the voltage waveform and theoretical efficiency becoming a function of the nonlinear factor γ under the influence of input nonlinearity. As a result, compared to the traditional ESCMs PAs, the introduction of nonlinear factor γ has given rise to a wider load design space and source second-harmonic manipulation space, which can achieve bandwidth expansion while reducing the design complexity of input and output matching networks. Subsequently, this conclusion was verified by using a commercially available 10W gallium nitride (GaN) device from Cree to design wideband high-efficiency PAs. The measured results show that in the target frequency band from 0.55 to 3.55 GHz, a drain efficiency of 60.5%–71.5 % and a gain of 9–12 dB can be obtained at a saturated output power of 39–42 dBm.