A waveform engineering approach for class F operation in a class C biased peaking branch of GaN MMIC Doherty power amplifiers
Abstract This paper presents a novel design strategy to enhance the performance of a Doherty Power Amplifier using a nonlinear driver stage in the Peaking branch. To implement a class F harmonic termination for the peaking final stage, a third harmonic voltage component is injected at the input by a...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2025-04-01
|
| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-95964-1 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1850265804300353536 |
|---|---|
| author | Francesco Manni Paolo Colantonio Vittorio Camarchia Anna Piacibello Gianni Bosi Valeria Vadalà Rocco Giofrè |
| author_facet | Francesco Manni Paolo Colantonio Vittorio Camarchia Anna Piacibello Gianni Bosi Valeria Vadalà Rocco Giofrè |
| author_sort | Francesco Manni |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract This paper presents a novel design strategy to enhance the performance of a Doherty Power Amplifier using a nonlinear driver stage in the Peaking branch. To implement a class F harmonic termination for the peaking final stage, a third harmonic voltage component is injected at the input by a driver stage, allowing the phase of the third harmonic current at the output of the final stage to be reversed compared to its normal evolution. This enables a class F design strategy for a class C biased device. The paper details the theoretical foundation of the proposed approach together with a thoroughly experimental verification of its applicability at both device and circuit level. The prototype for X-Band applications is implemented on the 120 nm gate-length GaN-on-SiC technology from WIN Semiconductors. The MMIC delivers over 36 dBm of output power and 40% efficiency at 10 GHz. Additionally, when tested with modulated signals having 10 MHz channel bandwidth and 6 dB Peak-to-Average Power Ratio, the linearity threshold of Adjacent Channel Power Ratio of − 30 dBc is achieved with an average output power exceeding 32 dBm and efficiency greater than 32%. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b08a1cf6aabc472a86ba2c0f62b75b5a |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-b08a1cf6aabc472a86ba2c0f62b75b5a2025-08-20T01:54:19ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-04-0115111710.1038/s41598-025-95964-1A waveform engineering approach for class F operation in a class C biased peaking branch of GaN MMIC Doherty power amplifiersFrancesco Manni0Paolo Colantonio1Vittorio Camarchia2Anna Piacibello3Gianni Bosi4Valeria Vadalà5Rocco Giofrè6Department of Electronics Engineering, University of Rome Tor VergataDepartment of Electronics Engineering, University of Rome Tor VergataDepartment of Electronics and Telecommunications, Polytechnic University of TurinDepartment of Electronics and Telecommunications, Polytechnic University of TurinDepartment of Physics, University of Milano-BicoccaDepartment of Physics, University of Milano-BicoccaDepartment of Electronics Engineering, University of Rome Tor VergataAbstract This paper presents a novel design strategy to enhance the performance of a Doherty Power Amplifier using a nonlinear driver stage in the Peaking branch. To implement a class F harmonic termination for the peaking final stage, a third harmonic voltage component is injected at the input by a driver stage, allowing the phase of the third harmonic current at the output of the final stage to be reversed compared to its normal evolution. This enables a class F design strategy for a class C biased device. The paper details the theoretical foundation of the proposed approach together with a thoroughly experimental verification of its applicability at both device and circuit level. The prototype for X-Band applications is implemented on the 120 nm gate-length GaN-on-SiC technology from WIN Semiconductors. The MMIC delivers over 36 dBm of output power and 40% efficiency at 10 GHz. Additionally, when tested with modulated signals having 10 MHz channel bandwidth and 6 dB Peak-to-Average Power Ratio, the linearity threshold of Adjacent Channel Power Ratio of − 30 dBc is achieved with an average output power exceeding 32 dBm and efficiency greater than 32%.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-95964-1 |
| spellingShingle | Francesco Manni Paolo Colantonio Vittorio Camarchia Anna Piacibello Gianni Bosi Valeria Vadalà Rocco Giofrè A waveform engineering approach for class F operation in a class C biased peaking branch of GaN MMIC Doherty power amplifiers Scientific Reports |
| title | A waveform engineering approach for class F operation in a class C biased peaking branch of GaN MMIC Doherty power amplifiers |
| title_full | A waveform engineering approach for class F operation in a class C biased peaking branch of GaN MMIC Doherty power amplifiers |
| title_fullStr | A waveform engineering approach for class F operation in a class C biased peaking branch of GaN MMIC Doherty power amplifiers |
| title_full_unstemmed | A waveform engineering approach for class F operation in a class C biased peaking branch of GaN MMIC Doherty power amplifiers |
| title_short | A waveform engineering approach for class F operation in a class C biased peaking branch of GaN MMIC Doherty power amplifiers |
| title_sort | waveform engineering approach for class f operation in a class c biased peaking branch of gan mmic doherty power amplifiers |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-95964-1 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT francescomanni awaveformengineeringapproachforclassfoperationinaclasscbiasedpeakingbranchofganmmicdohertypoweramplifiers AT paolocolantonio awaveformengineeringapproachforclassfoperationinaclasscbiasedpeakingbranchofganmmicdohertypoweramplifiers AT vittoriocamarchia awaveformengineeringapproachforclassfoperationinaclasscbiasedpeakingbranchofganmmicdohertypoweramplifiers AT annapiacibello awaveformengineeringapproachforclassfoperationinaclasscbiasedpeakingbranchofganmmicdohertypoweramplifiers AT giannibosi awaveformengineeringapproachforclassfoperationinaclasscbiasedpeakingbranchofganmmicdohertypoweramplifiers AT valeriavadala awaveformengineeringapproachforclassfoperationinaclasscbiasedpeakingbranchofganmmicdohertypoweramplifiers AT roccogiofre awaveformengineeringapproachforclassfoperationinaclasscbiasedpeakingbranchofganmmicdohertypoweramplifiers AT francescomanni waveformengineeringapproachforclassfoperationinaclasscbiasedpeakingbranchofganmmicdohertypoweramplifiers AT paolocolantonio waveformengineeringapproachforclassfoperationinaclasscbiasedpeakingbranchofganmmicdohertypoweramplifiers AT vittoriocamarchia waveformengineeringapproachforclassfoperationinaclasscbiasedpeakingbranchofganmmicdohertypoweramplifiers AT annapiacibello waveformengineeringapproachforclassfoperationinaclasscbiasedpeakingbranchofganmmicdohertypoweramplifiers AT giannibosi waveformengineeringapproachforclassfoperationinaclasscbiasedpeakingbranchofganmmicdohertypoweramplifiers AT valeriavadala waveformengineeringapproachforclassfoperationinaclasscbiasedpeakingbranchofganmmicdohertypoweramplifiers AT roccogiofre waveformengineeringapproachforclassfoperationinaclasscbiasedpeakingbranchofganmmicdohertypoweramplifiers |