High Frequency Design From May 2003 High Frequency Electronics

Copyright © 2003 Summit Technical Media, LLC

RF POWER AMPLIFIERS

RF and Microwave Power

Amplifier and Transmitter
Technologies — Part 1
By Frederick H. Raab, Peter Asbeck, Steve Cripps, Peter B. Kenington,
Zoya B. Popovic, Nick Pothecary, John F. Sevic and Nathan O. Sokal

R
F and microwave lope tracking, outphasing, and Doherty.
With this issue, we begin a power amplifiers Linearity can be improved through techniques
four-part series of articles and transmitters such as feedback, feedforward, and predistor-
that offer a comprehensive are used in a wide variety tion. Also discussed are some recent develop-
overview of power amplifier of applications including ments that may find use in the near future.
technologies. Part 1 covers wireless communication, A power amplifier (PA) is a circuit for con-
the key topics of amplifier jamming, imaging, radar, verting DC input power into a significant
linearity, efficiency and and RF heating. This amount of RF/microwave output power. In
available RF power devices article provides an intro- most cases, a PA is not just a small-signal
duction and historical amplifier driven into saturation. There exists
background for the subject, and begins the a great variety of different power amplifiers,
technical discussion with material on signals, and most employ techniques beyond simple
linearity, efficiency, and RF-power devices. At linear amplification.
the end, there is a convenient summary of the A transmitter contains one or more power
acronyms used—this will be provided with all amplifiers, as well as ancillary circuits such as
four installments. Author affiliations and con- signal generators, frequency converters, mod-
tact information are also provided at the end ulators, signal processors, linearizers, and
of each part. power supplies. The classic architecture
employs progressively larger PAs to boost a
1. INTRODUCTION low-level signal to the desired output power.
The generation of significant power at RF However, a wide variety of different architec-
and microwave frequencies is required not tures in essence disassemble and then
only in wireless communications, but also in reassemble the signal to permit amplification
applications such as jamming, imaging, RF with higher efficiency and linearity.
heating, and miniature DC/DC converters. Modern applications are highly varied.
Each application has its own unique require- Frequencies from VLF through millimeter
ments for frequency, bandwidth, load, power, wave are used for communication, navigation,
efficiency, linearity, and cost. RF power can be and broadcasting. Output powers vary from 10
generated by a wide variety of techniques mW in short-range unlicensed wireless sys-
using a wide variety of devices. The basic tems to 1 MW in long-range broadcast trans-
techniques for RF power amplification via mitters. Almost every conceivable type of mod-
classes A, B, C, D, E, and F are reviewed and ulation is being used in one system or anoth-
illustrated by examples from HF through Ka er. PAs and transmitters also find use in sys-
band. Power amplifiers can be combined into tems such as radar, RF heating, plasmas, laser
transmitters in a similarly wide variety of drivers, magnetic-resonance imaging, and
architectures, including linear, Kahn, enve- miniature DC/DC converters.

This series of articles is an expanded version of the paper, “Power Amplifiers and Transmitters for RF and
Microwave” by the same authors, which appeared in the the 50th anniversary issue of the IEEE Transactions on
Microwave Theory and Techniques, March 2002. © 2002 IEEE. Reprinted with permission.

22 High Frequency Electronics

 High Frequency Design
RF POWER AMPLIFIERS

No single technique for power generated by a single alternator. One PAs to operate over two decades of
amplification nor any single trans- such transmitter (SAQ) remains bandwidth without tuning. Because
mitter architecture is best for all operable at Grimeton, Sweden. solid-state devices are temperature-
applications. Many of the basic tech- sensitive, bias stabilization circuits
niques that are now coming into use Vacuum Tubes were developed for linear PAs. It also
were devised decades ago, but have With the advent of the DeForest became possible to implement a vari-
only recently been made practical audion in 1907, the thermoionic vac- ety of feedback and control tech-
because of advances in RF-power uum tube offered a means of elec- niques through the variety of op-
devices and supporting circuitry such tronically generating and controlling amps and ICs.
as digital signal processing (DSP). RF signals. Tubes such as the RCA Solid-state RF-power devices
UV-204 (1920) allowed the transmis- were offered in packaged or chip
2. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT sion of pure CW signals and facilitat- form. A single package might include
The development of RF power ed the transition to higher frequen- a number of small devices. Power out-
amplifiers and transmitters can be cies of operation. puts as high as 600 W were available
divided into four eras: Younger readers may find it con- from a single packaged push-pull
venient to think of a vacuum tube as device (MRF157). The designer basi-
Spark, Arc, and Alternator a glass-encapsulated high-voltage cally selected the packaged device
In the early days of wireless com- FET with heater. Many of the con- that best fit the requirements. How
munication (from 1895 to the mid cepts for modern electronics, includ- the transistors were made was
1920s), RF power was generated by ing class-A, -B, and -C power ampli- regarded as a bit of sorcery that
spark, arc, and alternator techniques. fiers, originated early in the vacuum- occurred in the semiconductor houses
The original RF-power device, the tube era. PAs of this era were charac- and was not a great concern to the
spark gap, charges a capacitor to a terized by operation from high volt- ordinary circuit designer.
high voltage, usually from the AC ages into high-impedance loads and
mains. A discharge (spark) through by tuned output networks. The basic Custom/Integrated Transistors
the gap then rings the capacitor, tun- circuits remained relatively un- The late 1980s and 1990s saw a
ing inductor, and antenna, causing changed throughout most of the era. proliferation variety of new solid-
radiation of a damped sinusoid. Vacuum tube transmitters were state devices including HEMT,
Spark-gap transmitters were rela- dominant from the late 1920s pHEMT, HFET, and HBT, using a
tively inexpensive and capable of through the mid 1970s. They remain variety of new materials such as InP,
generating 500 W to 5 kW from LF to in use today in some high power SiC, and GaN, and offering amplifica-
MF [1]. applications, where they offer a rela- tion at frequencies to 100 GHz or
The arc transmitter, largely tively inexpensive and rugged means more. Many such devices can be oper-
attributed to Poulsen, was a contem- of generating 10 kW or more of RF ated only from relatively low voltages.
porary of the spark transmitter. The power. However, many current applications
arc exhibits a negative-resistance need only relatively low power. The
characteristic which allows it to oper- Discrete Transistors combination of digital signal process-
ate as a CW oscillator (with some Discrete solid state RF-power ing and microprocessor control allows
fuzziness). The arc is actually extin- devices began to appear at the end of widespread use of complicated feed-
guished and reignited once per RF the 1960s with the introduction of sil- back and predistortion techniques to
cycle, aided by a magnetic field and icon bipolar transistors such as the improve efficiency and linearity.
hydrogen ions from alcohol dripped 2N6093 (75 W HF SSB) by RCA. Many of the newer RF-power
into the arc chamber. Arc transmit- Power MOSFETs for HF and VHF devices are available only on a made-
ters were capable of generating as appeared in 1974 with the VMP-4 by to-order basis. Basically, the designer
much as 1 MW at LF [2]. Siliconix. GaAs MESFETs introduced selects a semiconductor process and
The alternator is basically an AC in the late 1970s offered solid state then specifies the size (e.g., gate
generator with a large number of power at the lower microwave fre- periphery). This facilitates tailoring
poles. Early RF alternators by Tesla quencies. the device to a specific power level, as
and Fessenden were capable of oper- The introduction of solid-state well as incorporating it into an RFIC
ation at LF, and a technique devel- RF-power devices brought the use of or MMIC.
oped by Alexanderson extended the lower voltages, higher currents, and
operation to LF [3]. The frequency relatively low load resistances. 3. LINEARITY
was controlled by adjusting the rota- Ferrite-loaded transmission line The need for linearity is one of the
tion speed and up to 200 kW could be transformers enabled HF and VHF principal drivers in the design of

24 High Frequency Electronics

 High Frequency Design
RF POWER AMPLIFIERS

Figure 1 · SRRC data pulses. Figure 2 · RF waveforms for SRRC and multicarrier signals.

modern power amplifiers. Linear tively low data rates and a relatively Depending on the application, the
amplification is required when the uncrowded spectrum. signals can have different ampli-
signal contains both amplitude and Modern digital signals such as tudes, different modulations, and
phase modulation. It can be accom- QPSK or QAM are typically generat- irregular frequency spacing.
plished either by a chain of linear ed by modulating both I and Q sub- In a number of applications
PAs or a combination of nonlinear carriers. The requirements for both including HF modems, digital audio
PAs. Nonlinearities distort the signal high data rates and efficient utiliza- broadcasting, and high-definition
being amplified, resulting in splatter tion of the increasingly crowded spec- television, it is more convenient to
into adjacent channels and errors in trum necessitates the use of shaped use a large number of carriers with
detection. data pulses. The most widely used low data rates than a single carrier
Signals such as CW, FM, classical method is based upon a raised-cosine with a high data rate. The motiva-
FSK, and GMSK (used in GSM) have channel spectrum, which has zero tions include simplification of the
constant envelopes (amplitudes) and intersymbol interference during modulation/demodulation hardware,
therefore do not require linear ampli- detection and can be made arbitrari- equalization, and dealing with multi-
fication. Full-carrier amplitude mod- ly close to rectangular [4]. A raised- path propagation. Such Orthogonal
ulation is best produced by high level cosine channel spectrum is achieved Frequency Division Multiplex
amplitude modulation of the final RF by using a square-root raised-cosine (OFDM) techniques [5] employ carri-
PA. Classic signals that require lin- (SRRC) filter in both the transmitter ers with the same amplitude and
ear amplification include single side- and receiver. The resultant SRRC modulation, separated in frequency
band (SSB) and vestigal-sideband data pulses (Figure 1) are shaped so that modulation products from one
(NTSC) television. Modern signals somewhat like sinc functions which carrier are zero at the frequencies of
that require linear amplification are truncated after several cycles. At the other carriers.
include shaped-pulse data modula- any given time, several different data Regardless of the characteristics
tion and multiple carriers. pulses contribute to the I and Q mod- of the individual carriers, the resul-
ulation waveforms. The resultant tant composite signal (Figure 2) has
Shaped Data Pulses modulated carrier (Figure 2) has simultaneous amplitude and phase
Classic FSK and PSK use abrupt simultaneous amplitude and phase modulation. The peak-to-average
frequency or phase transitions, or modulation with a peak-to-average ratio is typically in the range of 8 to
equivalently rectangular data pulses. ratio of 3 to 6 dB. 13 dB.
The resultant RF signals have con-
stant amplitude and can therefore be Multiple Carriers and OFDM Nonlinearity
amplified by nonlinear PAs with good Applications such as cellular base Nonlinearities cause imperfect
efficiency. However, the resultant stations, satellite repeaters, and reproduction of the amplified signal,
sinc-function spectrum spreads sig- multi-beam “active-phased-array” resulting in distortion and splatter.
nal energy over a fairly wide band- transmitters require the simultane- Amplitude nonlinearity causes the
width. This was satisfactory for rela- ous amplification of multiple signals. instantaneous output amplitude or

26 High Frequency Electronics

 High Frequency Design
RF POWER AMPLIFIERS

EDGE ACPR Offsets The traditional

I
measure of lineari-
ty is the carrier-to-
ER intermodulation
RO
RV
Normalized Magnitude (dB)

EC
TO (C/I) ratio. The PA
R
is driven with two

OR
or more carriers

CT
VE
(tones) of equal

AL
R amplitudes.

TU
O
CT

AC
VE Nonlinearities
ED
END cause the produc-
T
IN
tion of intermodu-
lation products at
Q
Frequency Offset from Carrier (MHz)
frequencies corre-
sponding to sums
Figure 3 · ACPR offsets and bandwidths. Figure 4 · Error vector. and differences of
multiples of the
carrier frequencies
envelope to differ in shape from the act upon the instantaneous signal [6]. The amplitude of the third-order
corresponding input. Such nonlinear- voltage or envelope. However, memo- or maximum intermodulation distor-
ities are the variable gain or satura- ry effects can also occur in high- tion (IMD) product is compared to
tion in a transistor or amplifier. power PAs because of thermal effects that of the carriers to obtain the C/I.
Amplitude-to-phase conversion is a and charge storage. Thermal effects A typical linear PA has a C/I of 30 dB
phase shift associated with the signal are somewhat more noticeable in III- or better.
amplitude and causes the introduc- V semiconductors because of lower Noise-Power Ratio (NPR) is a tra-
tion of unwanted phase modulation thermal conductivity, while charge- ditional method of measuring the lin-
into the output signal. Amplitude-to- storage effects are more prevalent in earity of PAs for broadband and
phase conversion is often associated overdriven BJT PAs. noise-like signals. The PA is driven
with voltage-dependent capacitances with Gaussian noise with a notch in
in the transistors. While imperfect Measurement of Linearity one segment of its spectrum.
frequency response also distorts a Linearity is characterized, mea- Nonlinearities cause power to appear
signal, it is a linear process and sured, and specified by various tech- in the notch. NPR is the ratio of the
therefore does not generate out-of- niques depending upon the specific notch power to the total signal power.
band signals. signal and application. The linearity Adjacent Channel Power Ratio
Amplitude nonlinearity and of RF PAs is typically characterized (ACPR) characterizes how nonlinear-
amplitude-to-phase conversion are by C/I, NPR, ACPR, and EVM ity affects adjacent channels and is
described by transfer functions that (defined below). widely used with modern shaped-
pulse digital signals such as NADC
STANDARD Offset 1 Offset 2 BW Integration EVM
and CDMA. Basically, ACPR is the
(kHz) Filter (peak/rms)
ratio of the power in a specified band
NADC [13] ±30 kHz ±60 kHz 32.8 kHz RRC 25%/12% outside the signal bandwidth to the
–26 dBc –45 dBc α=0.35 rms power in the signal (Figure 3).
PHS [14] ±600 kHz ±900 kHz 37.5 kHz RRC 25%/12% In some cases, the actual power spec-
–50 dBc –55 dBc α=0.50 trum S(f) is weighted by the frequen-
EDGE [15] ±400 kHz ±600 kHz 30 kHz None 22%/7.0% cy response H(f) of the pulse-shaping
–58 dBc –66 dBc filter; i.e. (eq. 1)
TETRA [16] 25 kHz 50 kHz 25 kHz RRC 30%/10%
–60 dBc –70 dBc α=0.35 fc − fo + BW / 2

∫ H ( f ) S ( f ) df
2
IS-95 CDMA [17] 885 kHz 1980 kHz 30 kHz None N/A
–45 dBc –55 dBc fc − fo − BW / 2
ACPRlower = fU
W-CDMA (3G-PP) 5.00 MHz 10.0 MHz 4.68 MHz RRC 25%/N/A
∫ H ( f ) S ( f ) df
2

[18] –33 dB –43 dB α=0.22

fL

Table 1 · ACPR and EVM requirements of various systems.

28 High Frequency Electronics

Figure 5 · Envelope PDFs. Figure 6 · Power-output PDFs.

where fc is the center frequency, B is i.e. (Pout – PDR)/Pin. PAE gives a rea- bution function (CDF), which gives
the bandwidth, fo is the offset, and fL sonable indication of PA performance the probability that the envelope
and fU are the band edges. The when gain is high; however, it can does not exceed a specified ampli-
weighting, frequency offsets, and become negative for low gains. An tude. CW, FM, and GSM signals have
required ACPRs vary with applica- overall efficiency such as Pout/(Pin + constant envelopes and are therefore
tion as shown in Table 1. ACPR can PDR) is useable in all situations. This always at peak output. SRRC data
be specified for either upper or lower definition can be varied to include modulation produces PDFs that are
sideband. In many cases, two differ- driver DC input power, the power concentrated primarily in the upper
ent ACPRs for two different frequen- consumed by supporting circuits, and half of the voltage range and have
cy offsets are specified. ACPR2, based anything else of interest. peak-to-average ratios on the order of
upon the outer band, is sometimes 3 to 6 dB. Multiple carriers [8] pro-
called “Alternate Channel Power Average Efficiency duce random-phasor sums much like
Ratio.” The instantaneous efficiency is random noise and therefore have
Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) is the efficiency at one specific output Rayleigh-distributed envelopes; i.e.,
a convenient measure of how nonlin- level. For most PAs, the instanta-
earity interferes with the detection neous efficiency is highest at the p(E) = 2 E ξexp (–V2 ξ) (4)
process. EVM is defined (Figure 4) as peak output power (PEP) and
the distance between the desired and decreases as output decreases. Peak-to-average ratio ξ is typically
actual signal vectors, normalized to a Signals with time-varying ampli- between 6 and 13 dB.
fraction of the signal amplitude. tudes (amplitude modulation) there- The average input and output
Often, both peak and rms errors are fore produce time-varying efficien- powers are found by integrating the
specified (Table 1). cies. A useful measure of performance product of their variation with ampli-
is then the average efficiency, which tude and the PDF of the envelope.
4. EFFICIENCY is defined [7] as the ratio of the aver- Two cases are of special interest.
Efficiency, like linearity, is a criti- age output power to the average DC- When the DC input current is con-
cal factor in PA design. Three defini- input power: stant (class-A bias), the DC input
tions of efficiency are commonly used. power is also constant. The average
Drain efficiency is defined as the ηAVG = PoutAVG/PinAVG (3) efficiency is then ηPEP/ξ. If the DC
ratio of RF output power to DC input input current (hence power) is pro-
power: This concept can be used with any portional to the envelope (as in class-
of the three definitions of efficiency. B), the average efficiency is (4/π)1/2
η = Pout/Pin (2) The probability-density function ηPEP, for a Rayleigh-distributed sig-
(PDF) of the envelope gives the rela- nal. Thus for a multicarrier signal
Power-added efficiency (PAE) tive amount of time an envelope with a 10 dB peak-to-average ratio,
incorporates the RF drive power by spends at various amplitudes (Figure ideal class-A and B PAs with PEP
subtracting it from the output power; 5). Also used is the cumulative distri- efficiencies of 50 and 78.5 percent,

May 2003 29
 High Frequency Design
RF POWER AMPLIFIERS

respectively, have average efficiencies are npn or n-channel types because which is very useful in switching-
of only 5 and 28 percent, respectively. the greater mobility of electrons (vs. mode operation with reactive loads.
holes) results in better operation at Vertical RF power MOSFETs are
Back-Off higher frequencies. useable through VHF and UHF.
The need to conserve battery Gemini-packaged devices can deliver
power and to avoid interference to Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT) up to 1 kW at HF and 100s of watts
other users operating on the same The Si BJT is the original solid- at VHF. VMOS devices typically oper-
frequency necessitates the transmis- state RF power device, originating in ate from 12, 28, or 50-V supplies,
sion of signals whose peak ampli- the 1960s. Since the BJT is a vertical although some devices are capable of
tudes well below the peak output device, obtaining a high collector- operation from 100 V or more.
power of the transmitter. Since peak breakdown voltage is relatively sim-
power is needed only in the worst- ple and the power density is very Laterally Diffused MOS (LDMOS)
case links, the “back-off” is typically high. Si BJTs typically operate from LDMOS is especially useful at
in the range of 10 to 20 dB. 28 V supplies and remain in use at UHF and lower microwave frequen-
For a single-carrier mobile trans- frequencies up to 5 GHz, especially in cies because direct grounding of its
mitter, back-off rather than envelope high-power (1 kW) pulsed applica- source eliminates bond-wire induc-
PDF is dominant in determining the tions such as radar. While Si RF tance that produces negative feed-
average power consumption and power devices have higher gain at back and reduces gain at high fre-
average efficiency. The PDF of the high frequencies, their fundamental quencies. This also eliminates the
transmitting power (Figure 4) properties are basically those of ordi- need for the BeO insulating layer
depends not only upon the distance, nary bipolar transistors. The positive commonly used in other RF-power
but also upon factors such as attenu- temperature coefficient of BJTs tends MOSFETs.
ation by buildings, multipath, and to allow current hogging, hot-spot- LDMOS devices typically operate
orientation of the mobile antenna [8], ting, and thermal runaway, necessi- from 28-V supplies and are currently
[9], [10]. To facilitate prediction of the tating carefully regulated base bias. available with power outputs of 120
power consumption, the envelope and Since RF power BJTs are generally W at 2 GHz. They are relatively low
back-off PDFs can be combined [11]. composed of multiple, small BJTs in cost compared to other devices for
(emitter sites), emitter ballasting this frequency range and are current-
5. RF POWER TRANSISTORS (resistance) is generally employed to ly the device of choice for use in high-
A wide variety of active devices is force even division of the current power transmitters at 900 MHz and 2
currently available for use in RF- within a given package. GHz.
power amplifiers, and RF-power
transistors are available in packaged, Metal-Oxide-Silicon Field-Effect Junction FET (JFET)
die, and grown-to-order forms. Transistor (MOSFET) JFETs for power applications are
Packaged devices are used at fre- MOSFETs are constructed with often called Static Induction
quencies up to X band, and are domi- insulated gates. Topologies with both Transistors (SITs). Impressive power
nant for high power and at VHF and vertical and later current flow are and efficiency have been obtained
lower frequencies. A given package used in RF applications, and most are from RF JFETs based upon Si, SiGe,
can contain one or more die connect- produced by a double-diffusion pro- and SiC at frequencies through UHF.
ed in parallel and can also include cess. Because the insulated gate con- However, the JFET has never become
internal matching for a specific fre- ducts no DC current, MOSFETs are as popular as other RF-power FETs.
quency of operation. Dice (chips) can very easily biased.
be wire-bonded directly into a circuit The negative temperature coeffi- GaAs MEtal Semiconductor FET
to minimize the effects of the package cient of a MOSFET causes its drain (GaAs MESFET)
and are used up to 20 GHz. In current to decrease with tempera- GaAs MESFETs are JFETs based
MMICs, the RF-power device is ture. This prevents thermal runaway upon GaAs and a Schottky gate junc-
grown to order, allowing its size and and allows multiple MOSFETs to be tion. They have higher mobility than
other characteristics to be optimized connected in parallel without ballast- do Si devices and are therefore capa-
for the particular application. This ing. The absence of base-charge stor- ble of operating efficiently at higher
form of construction is essential for age time allows fast switching and frequencies. GaAs MESFETs are
upper-microwave and millimeter- also eliminates a mechanism for sub- widely used for the production of
wave frequencies to minimize the harmonic oscillation. An overdriven microwave power, with capabilities of
effects of strays and interconnects. (saturated) MOSFET can conduct up 200 W at 2 GHz and 40 W at 20
Virtually all RF power transistors drain current in either direction, GHz in packaged devices. These

30 High Frequency Electronics

 High Frequency Design
RF POWER AMPLIFIERS

devices have relatively low break- although technically an “HFET” has and efficiency than the GaAs
down voltages compared to a doped channel that provides the pHEMT, with the PA efficiency begin-
MOSFETs or JFETs and are typical- carriers (instead of the heterojunc- ning to drop at 60 GHz. However, it
ly operated from supply voltages tion). The acronyms “HFET and has a lower breakdown voltage (typi-
(drain biases) of 5 to 10 V. Most “HJFET” (HeteroJunction FET) cally 7 V) and must therefore be oper-
MESFETs are depletion-mode appear to be used interchangeably. ated from a relatively low drain-volt-
devices and require a negative gate GaAs HEMTs/HFETs with fT as age supply (e.g., 2 V). This results in
bias, although some enhance-mode high as 158 GHz are reported. PAs lower output per device and possibly
devices that operate with a positive based upon these HEMTs exhibit 15- loss in the combiners required to
bias have been developed. Linearity W outputs at 12 GHz with a power- achieve a specified output power.
is often poor due to input capacitance added efficiency (PAE) of 50 percent. Nonetheless, the InP HEMT general-
variation with voltage; the output Outputs of 100 W are available at S ly has a factor-of-two efficiency
capacitance is also often strongly band from packaged devices. advantage over the pHEMT and
bias- and frequency-dependent. GaAs HEMT.
Pseudomorphic HEMT InP HEMTs have been fabricated
Heterojunction FET (HFET) / High- The pseudomorphic HEMT with fmax as high as 600 GHz (0.1
Electron-Mobility Transistor (HEMT) (pHEMT) further improves upon the µm gate length), and amplification
HFETs and HEMTs improve upon basic HEMT by employing an has been demonstrated at frequen-
the MESFET geometry by separating InGaAs channel. The increased cies as high as 190 GHz. The efficien-
the Schottky and channel functions. mobility of In with respect to GaAs cy does not begin to drop until about
Added to the basic MESFET struc- increases the bandgap discontinuity 60 GHz. Power levels range from 100
ture is a heterojunction consisting of and therefore the number of carriers to 500 mW per chip.
an n-doped AlGaAs Schottky layer, in the two-dimensional electron gas.
an undoped AlGaAs spacer, and an The lattice mismatch between the Metamorphic HEMT (mHEMT)
undoped GaAs channel. The disconti- GaInAs channel and GaAs substrate The mHEMT allows channels
nuity in the band gaps of AlGaAs and is also increased, however, and this with high-In content to be built on
GaAs causes a thin layer of electrons limits the In content to about 22 per- GaAs substrates. The higher electron
(“two-dimensional electron gas or 2- cent. mobility and higher peak saturation
DEG”) to form below the gate at the The efficiency of PAs using velocity result in higher gain than is
interface of the AlGaAs and GaAs pHEMTs does not begin to drop until possible in a pHEMT. mHEMTs are
layers. Separation of the donors from about 45 GHz and pHEMTs are use- generally limited to low-power appli-
the mobile electrons reduces colli- able to frequencies as high as 80 cations by their relatively low break-
sions in the channel, improving the GHz. Power outputs vary from 40 W down voltage (<3 V). However, an
mobility, and hence high-frequency at L band to 100 mW at V band. mHEMT capable of 6-V operation
response, by a factor of about two. While pHEMTs are normally grown and a power output of 0.5 W has been
AlGaAs has crystal-lattice proper- to order, a packaged device pHEMT recently reported.
ties similar to those of GaAs, and this has recently become available.
makes it possible to produce a poten- Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor
tial difference without lattice stress. InP HEMT (HBT)
The GaAs buffer contributes to a rel- The InP HEMT places an HBTs are typically based upon
atively high breakdown voltage. AlInAs/GaInAs heterojunction on an the compound-semiconductor materi-
Their fabrication employs advanced InP substrate. The lattices are more al AlGaAs/GaAs. The AlGaAs emitter
epitaxial technologies (Molecular closely matched, which allows an In is made as narrow as possible to min-
Beam Epitaxy or Metal Organic content of up to about 53 percent. imize base resistance. The base is a
Chemical Vapor Deposition) which This results in increased mobility, thin layer of p GaAs. The barrier is
tends to increase their cost. which in turn results in increased created by heterojunction (AlGaAs/
The GaAs HEMT is known in the electron velocity, increased conduc- GaAs) rather than the doping. The
literature by a wide variety of differ- tion-band discontinuity, increased base can therefore be doped heavily
ent names, including MODFET two-dimensional electron gas, and to minimize its resistance. Base sheet
(Modulation-Doped FET), TEGFET higher transconductance. The ther- resistance is typically two orders of
(Two-dimensional Electron-Gas mal resistance is 40 percent lower magnitude lower than that of an
FET), and SDFET (Selectively Doped than that of a comparable device ordinary BJT, and the frequency of
FET). It is also commonly called an built on a GaAs substrate. operation is accordingly higher. The
HFET (Heterostructure FET), The InP HEMT has higher gain current flow is (in contrast to a MES-

32 High Frequency Electronics

 High Frequency Design
RF POWER AMPLIFIERS

FET) vertical so that surface imper- power densities of 10 W/mm, which is Radio Transmitters and Carrier
fections have less effect upon perfor- ten times that of a GaAs MESFET. Currents, Scranton PA: International
mance. The use of a semi-insulating The high thermal conductivity of the Textbook Company, 1928.
substrate and the higher electron SiC substrate is particularly useful 4. J. B. Groe and L. E. Larson,
mobility result in reduced parasitics. in high-power applications. The high- CDMA Mobile Radio Design,
The DC curves are somewhat similar er operating voltage and associated Norwood, MA: Artech House, 2000.
to those of a conventional BJT, but higher load impedance greatly sim- 5. R. van Nee and R. Prasad,
often contain a saturation resistance plify output networks and power OFDM for Wireless Multimedia
as well as saturation voltage. combining. SiC MESFETs typically Communications, Norwood, MA:
Currently available AlGaAs/GaAs operate from a 48-V supply. Devices Artech House, 2000.
HBTs are capable of producing sever- with outputs of 10 W are currently 6. H. L. Krauss, C. W. Bostian, and
al watts and are widely used in wire- available, and outputs of 60 W or F. H. Raab, Solid State Radio
less handsets, GaAs HBTs are also more have been demonstrated exper- Engineering, New York: Wiley, 1980.
widely used in MMIC circuits at fre- imentally. The cost of SiC devices is 7. F. H. Raab, “Average efficiency
quencies up to X band and can oper- at presently about ten times that of of power amplifiers,” Proc. RF
ate in PAs at frequencies as high as Si LDMOS. Technology Expo '86, Anaheim, CA,
20 GHz. pp. 474-486, Jan. 30-Feb. 1, 1986.
GaN HEMT 8. N. Pothecary, “Feedforward lin-
SiGe HBT GaN offers the same high break- ear power amplifiers,” in Workshop
The use of SiGe rather than Si in down voltage of SiC, but even higher Notes WFB, Int’l. Microwave Symp.,
the base of the HBT both increases mobility. Its thermal conductivity is, Boston, MA, June 16, 2001.
the maximum operating frequency however, lower, hence GaN devices 9. J. F. Sevic, “Statistical charac-
and decreases the base resistance. must be built substrate such as SiC terization of RF power amplifier effi-
However, they are generally less effi- or diamond. While the GaN HEMT ciency for wireless communication
cient than GaAs HBTs and can have offers the promise of a high-power, systems,” Proc. Wireless Commun.
lower breakdown voltages. One high-voltage device operating at fre- Conf., Boulder, CO, pp. 1-4, Aug. 1997.
experimental SiGe HBT is capable of quencies of 10 GHz or more, it is still 10. G. Hanington, P.-F. Chen, P. M.
delivering over 200 W at L band. in an experimental state. Power out- Asbeck, and L. E. Larson, “High-effi-
puts of 8 W at 10 GHz with 30 per- ciency power amplifier using dynam-
InP HBT cent efficiency have been demonstrat- ic power-supply voltage for CDMA
The use of InP in an HBT further ed. applications,” IEEE Trans.
boosts mobility and therefore the Microwave Theory Tech., vol. 47, no. 8,
high frequency response. In addition, Monolithic Microwave Integrated pp. 1471-1476, Aug. 1999.
InP HBTs have lower turn-on and Circuit (MMIC) 11. I. Kipnis, “Refining CDMA
knee voltages, resulting in higher MMICs integrate RF power mobile-phone power control,”
gain and efficiency. InP HBTs for RF- devices and matching/decoupling ele- Microwaves & RF, vol. 39, no. 6, pp.
power applications incorporate two ments such as on-chip inductors, 71-76, June 2000.
heterojunctions (AlInAs/GaInAs and capacitors, resistors, and transmis- 12. J. Staudinger, “Applying
GaInAs/InP). The InP in the collector sion lines. The proximity of these ele- switched gain stage concepts to
increases the breakdown voltage, ments to the RF-power devices is improve efficiency and linearity for
allowing higher output power. To essential for input, output, and inter- mobile CDMA power amplification,”
date, outputs of about 0.5 W at 20 stage matching at microwave and Microwave Journal, vol. 43, no. 9, pp.
GHz have been demonstrated, but it millimeter-wave frequencies. 152-162, Sept. 2000.
is anticipated that operation to 50 or
60 GHz will be possible. References Table 1 References
1. W. J. Bryon, “Arcs and sparks, 13. “Mobile station – base station
SiC MESFET Part 1,” Communications Quarterly, interoperability standard for dual-
The wide band gap of SiC results vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 27-43, Spring 1994. mode cellular system,” ANSI-136
in both high mobility and high break- 2. W. J. Bryon, “The arc method of Standard, Telecommun. Industries
down voltage. An SiC MESFET can producing continuous waves,” Assoc., 2000.
therefore have a frequency response Communications Quarterly, vol. 8, no. 14. “Digital cellular communica-
comparable to that of a GaAs MES- 3, pp. 47-65, Summer 1998. tion systems,” RCR STD-27, Research
FET, but breakdown voltages double 3. K. M. MacIlvain and W. H. and Development Center for Radio
that of Si LDMOS. This results in Freedman, Radio Library, Vol. III: Systems (RCR), April 1991.

34 High Frequency Electronics

 High Frequency Design
RF POWER AMPLIFIERS

Acronyms Used in Part 1

AC Alternating Current MESFET MEtal Semiconductor FET
ACPR Adjacent-Channel Power Ratio mHEMT Metamorphic HEMT
BJT Bipolar-Junction Transistor MMIC Microwave Monolithic Integrated Circuit
C/I Carrier-to-Intermodulation MOSFET Metal-Oxide-Silicon Field-Effect Transistor
CDF Cumulative Distribution Function NADC North American Digital Cellular
CDMA Code-Division Multiple Access NPR Noise-Power Ratio
CW Continuous Wave NTSC National Television Standards Committee
DC Direct Current
OFDM Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplex
DSP Digital Signal Processing
PA Power Amplifier
EVM Error-Vector Magnitude
PAE Power-Added Efficiency
FET Field-Effect Transistor
PDF Probability-Density Function
FSK Frequency-Shift Keying
GMSK Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying PEP Peak-Envelope Power
GSM Global System for Mobile communication pHEMT Pseudomorphic HEMT
HBT Heterojunction bipolar transistor PSK Phase-Shift Keying
HEMT High Electron-Mobility Transistor QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
HFET Heterojunction FET (also HJFET) QPSK Quadrature Phase Shift Keying
IC Integrated Circuit RF Radio Frequency
JFET Junction Field-Effect Transistor SRRC Square-Root Raised Cosine
LDMOS Laterally Diffused MOS (FET) SSB Single SideBand

15. “Digital cellular telecommunications system 2. To maintain continuity, all figures, tables, equations
(phase 2+), radio transmission and reception,” GSM 5.05 and references will be numbered sequentially throughout
Standard, v. 8.4.1, European Telecommun. Standards the entire series.
Inst., 1999. 3. Like all articles in High Frequency Electronics, this
16. “Terrestrial trunked radio (TETRA) voice+data air series will be archived and available for downloading (for
interface,” TETRA Draft Standard, European personal use by individuals only) online at the magazine
Telecommun. Standards Inst., 1999. website: www.highfrequencyelectronics.com
17. “Mobile station – base station interoperability
standard for dual-mode wideband spread-spectrum cellu- Author Information
lar system,” TIA/EIA IS-95 Interim Standard, The authors of this series of articles are: Frederick H.
Telecommun. Industries Assoc., July 1993. Raab (lead author), Green Mountain Radio Research, e-
18. “UE radio transmission and reception (FDD),” TS mail: [email protected]; Peter Asbeck, University of
25.101, v. 3.4.1, Third Generation Partnership Project, California at San Diego; Steve Cripps, Hywave
Technical Specification Group, 1999. Associates; Peter B. Kenington, Andrew Corporation;
Zoya B. Popovic, University of Colorado; Nick Pothecary,
Series Notes Consultant; John F. Sevic, California Eastern
1. The remaining three parts of this series will appear Laboratories; and Nathan O. Sokal, Design Automation.
in successive issues of High Frequency Electronics (July, Readers desiring more information should contact the
September and November 2003 issues). lead author.

36 High Frequency Electronics