A high-efficiency class-E GaN HEMT power amplifier for WCDMA applications

Abstract

This letter reports a high efficiency class-E power amplifier using a GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT), which is designed at WCDMA band of 2.14 GHz. To improve output power and efficiency by suppressing harmonic powers, an output network using transmission lines is used. For a single tone, the proposed output network suppresses all harmonic power levels below -60 dBc for the whole output power range. The peak power-added efficiency (PAE) of 70% with a power gain of 13 dB is achieved at an output power of 43 dBm. The broadband performance with a power gain over 12 dB and PAE over 60% is maintained through 200 MHz.