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Distortion mitigation for 100 and 250 MHz discrete supply modulation of a three-stage K-band MMIC PA

Part of: EuMW Special issue 2019

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2020

Maxwell Robert Duffy Open the ORCID record for Maxwell Robert Duffy [Opens in a new window] ,
Gregor Lasser  and
Zoya Popović
Maxwell Robert Duffy*
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO80309, Morocco
*
Author for correspondence: Maxwell Robert Duffy, E-mail: maxwell.duffy@colorado.edu
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Abstract

This paper presents a high-efficiency linear GaN K-band transmitter for broadband high peak-average power ratio (PAPR) signals. A GaN MMIC 18.5–24 GHz three-stage power amplifier with over 4 W peak output power, 20 dB saturated gain, and 40% peak PAE is supply-modulated with a four-level discrete dynamic supply GaN MMIC. For 100 MHz signals with ${\rm PAPR}\gt 10\, {\rm dB}$, we demonstrate an average efficiency improvement from 14 to 20% with a simultaneous linearity improvement in noise power ratio (NPR) from 23 to 26 dB through a shaping function focused on gain linearization. For 250 MHz signal bandwidth, there is no observed degradation in NPR and the efficiency is improved by 5 percentage points. For discrete supply modulation, the switching transients between levels are experimentally investigated for wideband signals.

Keywords

Power amplifiersGaNsupply modulationenvelope trackingbroadband
Type
Research Paper
Information
International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies , Volume 12 , Special Issue 8: Special Issue EuMW 2019. Part II , October 2020 , pp. 707 - 715
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and the European Microwave Association 2020

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