An eclectic approach to design tunable amplifiers

Broadband amplifiers that can accommodate commercial communication standards such as GSM, UMTS, Wi-Fi, and Wi-Max are extremely important for radio equipment manufacturers. To achieve this coverage, the amplifier should provide high gain and efficiency over a band from 800 to 5200 MHz. Although there are transistor devices that have cut-off frequencies well over these frequencies, amplifiers covering such a broad-bandwidth are difficult to design due to the requirement of broadband matching networks. In this work, design of broadband tunable matching networks is investigated using Real Frequency Direct Computational Technique (RF-DCT). In order to be able to work on sample structures, impedance transforming filters are chosen and a broadband tunable matching network has been designed. Implementation of tunable inductors is investigated and the performance of a tunable matching network using tunable inductors and capacitors is demonstrated. Eventually a broadband frequency tunable amplifier has been designed using the tunable inductor concept. (c) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2013.