High Efficiency Class-E Amplifier Utilizing GaN HEMT Technology

William L. Pribble, Jim M Milligan, and Raymond S. Pengelly Cree Inc 4600 Silicon Drive, Durham, NC 27703

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Does Efficiency Matter?

Dissipated Power/Output Power
1.6 1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

Class A Class B Switchmode Class D,E Class C,F?

Effciency

Increasing efficiency from 50% to 80% reduces dissipated power by 80% for a fixed output power Switchmode amplifier configurations can operate above 80% efficiency

Problem: Extend switchmode operating frequency beyond VHF

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Why Switch Mode Amplifiers?

With a suitable high frequency transistor technology they offer very high efficiencies compared with Class A/B amplifiers GaN HEMT technology is ideal

High fT Low input capacitance Manageable output capacitance Low RDSON

GaN HEMT is the first technology to offer the ability of realizing switch mode amplifiers to well over 3.5 GHz!
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Class E Amplifier Basics

FET used as switch is assumed to have high offresistance Switch on-resistance assumed to be constant and must be minimized to achieve high PAE Output capacitance assumed to be independent of switch voltage Q factor of output circuit assumed large enough to suppress harmonics flywheel effect insures sinusoidal output
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DCVS ID=V1 V=1 V

IND ID=L2 L=L1 nH

IND ID=L1 L=L2 nH

2 D

CAP ID=C1 C=C2 pF

1 G

T S

ACVS ID=V2 Mag=1 V Ang=0 Deg

RES ID=R1 R=RL Ohm

Zload :=

o C1

Optimum Class-E fundamental load for ideal operation Mader 1995

Class E Power Calculations

vcc := pout rl 0.577
Relates peak output power for ideal classE wavefroms to supply voltage This value is ~78% of peak Class-B output power

To achieve peak Class-E output power as shown, peak voltage is calculated to be 3.56Vcc, peak drain current 2.86Idc (Solid State Radio Engineering Krauss, Bostian, Raab) Typical class-B voltage waveforms peak at ~2X the supply voltage Ideal class-E operation produces lower power for higher peak voltage but with 100% efficiency

The optimum class-E device must exhibit both low Ron and high breakdown voltage to function as a switch
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Basic Class E Equations/Limitations

fmax :=
cs=C1
2 1.8 1.6 1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 Operating Drain Voltage (V) Class-E Peak Current (A/mm)

Imax 56.5 10
12

Fundamental frequency limit for ideal class-e operation related to output capacitance

cs vcc
GaAs PHEMT

0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2

High-Voltage GaAs

Cree GaN qualified process available 1st quarter 2006 Cree GaN Process Goal

Plot shows required peak current vs supply voltage for operation at 4GHz for given output capacitance
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Summary of Class-E Device Requirements

High switching speed (related to input capacitance) required for switchmode operation Ft as much as 10X operating frequency to minimize transition-time loss Low on-resistance/high peak current to approximate ideal switch and increase peak operating frequency High breakdown voltage to accommodate class-E peak voltage for > 50 watt output power Gallium Nitride HEMT is the only presently available technology which provides these attributes
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Class-E Switch Mode Amplifier Simulation using Class-E Cree GaN HEMT Large-Signal Model Large-Signal
Current (I)
80

Voltage (across Q1)

2.0

60

1.5

(I)

C1 absorbed in device

RL

Voltage (V)

40

1.0

20

0.5

0.0 0.0
50

Freq = 2.0 GHz Q1 = Cree 15 watt GaN HEMT RON = 1.7 VD=V=35V RL=26 , C1=0.64pF, L1 = 50uH L2=13nH,C2=0.612pF POUT=10 Watts, =82%

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0
100 80

time, nsec

Output Power (dBm)

40 30 20 10 0 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28

40 20 0

Input Power (dBm) @ 2GHz

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PAE (%)

60

Current (A)

World Record 2.0 GHz High Efficiency GaN Amplifier

Measured Performance @ 30 V
43 42 Output Power (dBm ) 41 40 39 38 37 36 35 34 1.7 1.8 1.9 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 Frequency (GHz) 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 power pae

Fabricated High Efficiency GaN Hybrid

Class E Hybrid amplifier Vd = 30 volts 50 input/output 10 W POUT, 88% Drain Efficiency! 1.9 2.1 GHz!
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Approach Validated at Higher Frequencies and Moderate Bandwidths

Measured Data
50 48 46 Output Power (dBm) 44 42 40 38 36 34 32 30 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Frequency (GHz) 2.9 3 3.1 90 80
Output Power (dBm) 50 48 46 44 42 40 38 36 34 32 30 3.25 3.3 3.35 3.4 3.45 3.5

Measured Data
80 78 76 74 72 70 68 66 64 62 60 3.55 power pae

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 power pae

Frequency (GHz)

~10 Watts RF Out 12 dB Power Gain 76-82% PAE 2.7 2.9 GHz

~10 Watts RF Out 11 dB Power Gain 72-78% PAE 3.3 3.5 GHz

Crees GaN Technology Enables High-Power High Frequency Class-E Operation

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Approach Validated at Higher Power Levels

amp 1 Output Power, dBm 50 49.5 49 48.5 48 47.5 47 46.5 46 1.85 output power (dBm )

amp 1

1.9

1.95

2.05

2.1

frequency (ghz)

amp 1 Power Added Efficiency, % 80 75 70 pae 65 60 55 50 1.85 1.9 1.95 2 2.05 2.1

63 Watts Peak RF Output Power 18 dB Power Gain 75% PAE 2 GHz Operation
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amp 1

frequency (ghz)

11

Summary
GaN HEMT-Class E amplifier / ET demonstrated linear PAE of 54%

Much Superior to GaAs MESFET and LDMOSFET Demonstrates leapfrog in efficiency when compared to conventional Class A/B biased amplifiers deployed today High Power GaN HEMT-Class E modules built & measured Overall efficiency in ET system at 56% with 20 Watts average power under CDMA 2000 Approach suitable for telecom. bands including 3.5GHz WiMax
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