Design and implementationof 10W, highly linear, wideband and efficient power amplifier using harmonic termination

Abstract

In this paper, the design of a 10W, highly linear, wideband and efficient power amplifier is introduced. The design is based on Cree's CGH40010F GaN HEMT biased in class AB. The amplifier's high linearity is ensured through the use of a fourth order Chebyshev low filter as the output matching network which serves to get rid of higher order harmonics as well as any resulting out of band intermodulation products. At an output power of 40 dBm, the designed amplifier achieves a wide bandwidth extending from 1 to 2.5 GHz (85% fractional bandwidth), while maintaing a high power added efficiency (PAE) ranging from 48-55% across the entire operation bandwidth. Furthermore, the achieved amplifier output IP2 and IP3 are 47 and 76 dBm, respectively.