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

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-gain ) of 9.6 dB, an output power ( P-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.