High-Efficiency High-Power Wideband Power Amplifier Design With Hybrid Class AB

Abstract

This letter presents a wideband (1.8–6 GHz) high efficiency Gallium Nitride (GaN) power amplifier (PA). The design of the PA employs an approach of large signal bandwidth (BW)-current conduction angle (CCA) relationship based on the harmonic distortion (HD) performance. This is a new approach and targets to obtain better efficiency while keeping increase of HD low in the BW. The fabricated PA offers power gain ( $P_{\text {gain}}$ ) of 9.6 dB, an output power ( $P_{\text {out}}$ ) of 37.6 dBm, a power added efficiency (PAE) ranging from 42% to 51%, and HD levels below −20 dBc throughout the 1.8–6 GHz frequency band.