High-power high-efficiency GaN HEMT doherty amplifiers for base station applications

Abstract

In this paper, the high-power high-efficiency asymmetric Doherty power amplifiers based on high-voltage GaN HEMT devices with internal input matching for base station applications are proposed and described. For a three-way 1:2 asymmetric Doherty structures, an exceptionally high output power of 1 kW with a peak efficiency of 83% and a linear flat power gain of about 15 dB was achieved in a frequency band of 2.11–2.17 GHz, whereas an output power of 59.5 dBm with a peak efficiency of 78% and linear power gain of 12 dB and an output power of 59.2 dBm with a peak efficiency of 65% and a linear power gain of 13 dB were obtained across 1.8–2.2 GHz. To provide a high-efficiency broadband operation, the concept of inverted Doherty structure is applied and described in detail. By using a high-power broadband inverted Doherty amplifier architecture with a 2 × 120-W GaN HEMT transistor, a saturated power of greater than 54 dBm, a linear power gain of greater than 13 dB and a drain efficiency of greater than 50% at 7-dB power backoff in a frequency bandwidth of 1.8–2.7 GHz were obtained.