Design of GaN/AlGaN HEMT class-E power amplifier considering trapping and thermal effects

Abstract

A microwave class-E power amplifier using AlGaN/GaN HEMT as the switching device is reported by incorporating trapping and thermal effects in the large-signal device model. The load network of the class-E amplifier is designed by considering more realistic exponential decay of the drain current during fall time and finite quality factor of the resonant circuit to incorporate the nonidealities of the active device and passive components. With 9 V supply voltage, calculated output power and power conversion efficiency are 89 mW and 58% at 1GHz which decrease to 84 mW and 54% at 3.8 GHz, respectively for a GaN/Al/sub 0.30/Ga/sub 0.70/N HEMT with gate width of 50 /spl mu/m.