©James Buckwalter 1
Power Amplifiers
• Purpose of a power amplifier
– Generate high output power
– Efficient conversion of DC power to RF
power
– Linear amplification
• Generally PAs will be
– Common source
– Cascode
• Inductor is a “choke” to provide DC
• Capacitor is a “ac coupling” path to
output
©James Buckwalter 2
Definition of Power
• Instantaneous Power P = v (t ) × i (t )
• Average Power T
Pav = ò v (t ) × i (t ) dt
1
T t=0
• There is a component that averages to zero that
corresponds to energy stored and dissipated each
cycle.
©James Buckwalter 3
Definition of Power
• If the voltage and current is
v ( t ) = V cos (wt )
i (t ) = I cos (wt + q )
• The average power becomes
T
Pav = VI cosq ò cos (wt ) dt = VI cosq
1 2 1
T t=0 2
• In phasor notation v (t ) = V Re {e jwt }
P = Re {vi } = V Re {Y } = I Re { Z } Preac = Im { vi * }
1 * 1 2 1 2 1
2 2 2 2
©James Buckwalter 4
Example:
©James Buckwalter 5
Time Scales for Power Amplifiers
• Carrier T ~1ns, Period Ts ~100ns, Control ~ 1ms
©James Buckwalter 6
Power Scales for Power Amplifiers
©James Buckwalter 7
Large Signal Analysis
• Consider harmonic analysis
v ( t ) = åVk cos ( kwt )
k³0
i ( t ) = å I k cos ( kwt + q k )
k³0
• Power
P = V0 I 0 + åVk I k cos (q k )
1
2 k³1
• In phasor
P = å Vk Re {Yk } = å I k Re { Z k }
1 2 1 2
2 k³1 2 k³1
©James Buckwalter 8
Harmonic Engineering
• Power is not simply V2
• May see strong harmonic content but power
delivered at harmonics might be small due to
impedance at harmonics
P = å Vk Re {Yk } = å I k Re { Z k }
1 2 1 2
2 k³1 2 k³1
• Keep load reactive at harmonics.
©James Buckwalter 9
PA Characteristics
Voltage versus time Current versus time Loadline Impedance
Output versus Input Power Gain versus Power Efficiency versus Power
Harmonics
©James Buckwalter 10
Notation
• Be careful about notation of voltage, current,
and power.
• Average power P = Re {vi * }
1
2
©James Buckwalter 11
Units
• Peak Units
vRF = v pk sin (w RF t )
• RMS Units
T /2
1
ò (
v RF (t ) dt )
2
vrms =
T -T /2
© James Buckwalter 12
What does it mean to be
“matched”?
• The antenna will appear to be 50 at the
RF frequency so the input impedance of the
receiver should be 50 .
• Why 50 ?
– It’s historical but an important (IEEE) standard.
– 30 Ohms offers the best power handling.
– 75 Ohms offers the lowest attenuation.
– All test interfaces are 50 .
©James Buckwalter 13
Power Amplifier Matching
• Loadline should be
matched to 50 Ohm
antenna output (or
something like that).
• How do we do this?
©James Buckwalter 14
Power Delivered to a Load
2
iL
Pdel ,L = Â{ v L iL } = Â{ iL Z L iL } =
1 1
* *
RL
2 2 2
2
vS RL
Pdel ,L =
(R + RL ) + ( X S + X L )
2 2
2
S
©James Buckwalter 15
Power Delivered to a Load
2
vS RL
Pdel ,L =
(R + RL ) + ( X S + X L )
2 2
2
S
©James Buckwalter 16
Two Important Conclusions:
Conjugate (Power) Matching
¶PDL
I)X S = - X L II) = 0 ® RS = RL
¶RL
2 2
vS vL RL 1
Pdel ,L,max = = since vL = vS = v S
8RS 2RL RS + RL 2
©James Buckwalter 17
What is the Penalty for Mismatch?
X S = -X L + d X
2
vS 1 Pdel,L 1
Pdel ,L = ® =
æ dX ö Pav,S æ dX ö
2 2
8RS
1+ ç ÷ 1+ ç ÷
è 2RS ø è 2RS ø
• The PA is very nonlinear at high power. This explains
how the gain and power change under different
conditions.
©James Buckwalter 18
Characteristics of Transistor
Amplifiers
©James Buckwalter 19
Ideal Assumptions
©James Buckwalter 21
Classes of Power Amplifier
• Bias point amplifiers
– Class-A
– Class-B
– Class-C
• Switching amplifier
– Class-E
– Class-F
©James Buckwalter 22
PA Waveform
• Drain current consists of
DC current and AC
current
iD = I D + id
id = i pk sin (wot )
vo = -id R
©James Buckwalter 23
PA Quiescent Conditions
• DC Conditions
VDS = VDD
IDS = IDD
• DC and AC Conditions
VDS = VDD+VAC
VAC = VOUT
IDS = IDD+IAC
IAC=-ILOAD=-VOUT/RL
©James Buckwalter 24
Transistors as Power Devices
• At high-power, the transistor is
operating as a large signal
device.
• Large voltage swing across
drain-source junction
• Maximum voltage is VMAX~2Vdd
of transistor
• Minimum voltage is VMIN ~Vk
where transistor begins to
turn off
• Maximum current of transistor
at VMIN is Imax
©James Buckwalter 25
Time Waveforms
iD = I DD - ipk cos (w RF t )
ipk
2
RL
PRF =
2
• Note that the peak voltage across transistor is 2 Vdd!
©James Buckwalter 27
Class-A Efficiency
• How much power consumption is required to keep
the amplifier from turning off?
iD = I DD - i pk cos (w RF t ) I DD ³ ipk
v DS = VDD + ipk RL cos (w RF t ) VDD ³ ipk RL +VMIN
• Device power
Pdev = Pdev ( dc) + Pdev (w ) = I DDVDD - ipk RL
1 2
2
• Maximum efficiency
PRF i pk
2
RL V
h= = £ DD = 50%
PDC 2I DDVDD 2VDD
©James Buckwalter 28
Voltage Swing Limitations
P Po Pmax
• Efficiency h= o =
PDC Pmax PDC
• RF Voltage/Current
= (V MAX -V MIN )
1
VRF ,MAX
2
(V MAX +V MIN )
1
VDD =
2
V MAX = 2VDD -V MIN
I RF ,MAX = I DD
• This defines the limitation in delivering power
PRF ,MAX = VRF ,MAX I RF ,MAX = (VMAX -V MIN ) I DD
1 1
2 4
PDC = VDD I DD
©James Buckwalter 29
Class-A Efficiency vs RF Power
• Construct efficiency in terms of minimum device
output voltage and d.c. voltage
PRF PRF PRF ,MAX
h= =
PDC PRF ,MAX PDC
PRF 1 (V MAX -V MIN ) I DD
h=
PRF ,MAX 2 (V MAX +V MIN ) I DD
PRF 1 2VDD - 2V MIN PRF 1 æ V MIN ö
h= = çç1- ÷÷
PRF ,MAX 2 2VDD PRF ,MAX 2 è VDD ø
Operating Maximum Device
Back-off of amplifier Power Class-A Efficiency Factor
results in linear efficiency
degradation with power ©James Buckwalter 30
Class-A Output Power
DON’T THINK YOU NEED THIS SLIDE
ipk
2
R1 V MAX -V MIN
PRF = = I DD
2 2 2
PRF = I DD (V MAX -V MIN )
1
4
RLL =
(V MAX
-VMIN )
I MAX
©James Buckwalter 34
Solution: 1 W Power Amplifier in
CMOS
• Power delivered from PA:
I DD ( 2VDD -VK )
PDEL =
4
4PDEL 4W
I DD = = = 2.35A
2VDD -VK 1.7V
• CMOS PAs handle high current!!!
©James Buckwalter 35
Solution: 1 W Power Amplifier in
CMOS
• The loadline resistance is
RLL =
(V MAX
-VK )
=
2.7V
= 1.14W
I DC 2.35A
• This is an extremely small resistance. This
makes matching difficult as we will discuss
today!
©James Buckwalter 36
More Examples
©James Buckwalter 37
Class A Load-line Resistance
• Load line can be defined under different conditions
©James Buckwalter 38
Power/Efficiency Trade-off
• Changing RL changes
efficiency and output
power.
• Larger loadline
resistance achieves
higher efficiency at
expense of power.
©James Buckwalter 39
Changing Loadline Resistance for
Efficiency
• For fixed Vdd, changing
the loadline, the output
power reduces while
the efficiency increases.
• This is an important
observation used for
Doherty, Chereix, and
Envelope Tracking
©James Buckwalter 40
CLOSER LOOK AT LOADLINE
©James Buckwalter 41
Effect of Output Capacitance
• Loadline is not static
when transistor model
is no longer quasi static
d
iD = I DD - i pk cos (w RF t ) + C DS vOUT
dt
id = -ipk cos (w RF t ) + jw RF CDS vOUT
©James Buckwalter 42
Matching Conditions
• 1) DC loadline considerations dictate choice of RL to
optimize Pout or PAE combination. (not necessarily
gain)
• 2) Imaginary part of load admittance is established to
match the imaginary part of device
BL = -Á {YO }
©James Buckwalter 43
Simulating the Reactive Loadline
©James Buckwalter 45
Load Pull Contour
• Load pull measurement (simulation) consists of
systematically varying load impedance and
measuring amplifier characteristics
• Load pull contours describe how Pout (efficiency,
linearity, etc) vary with ZL
©James Buckwalter 46
Load Pull Contours
©James Buckwalter 47
Differences in Load Pull for Power and
PAE
©James Buckwalter 48
PA Design Methodology
1. Choose Vdd based on transistor technology with
sufficient power handling capability and breakdown
voltage
2. Using DC characteristics choose load line and verify
the Pout can be obtained.
3. Determine the input impedance matching network
using the bias condition on the average DC current
corresponding to average output power
4. Determine the load susceptance and match the
output to obtain RL and BL
5. Provide output match at harmonic frequencies
6. Set-up bias network
7. Optimize using simulator.
©James Buckwalter 49
Overdriven Class A
• You might wonder what happens when we turn a class
A amplifier to “11”
• In general, you get higher output power and efficiency
in the overdriven regime but this is difficult to analyze
• Vin determine Idrain through the nonlinear transistor
characteristics
• Vdrain depends on the load impedance at different
harmonics
• If Vdrain is too low, the transistor is forced into triod
and becomes a voltage source causing current collapse.
©James Buckwalter 50
©James Buckwalter 51
Power Added Efficiency
• Power added efficiency incorporates the RF power
lost into driving the device.
Prf ,out Prf ,in Prf ,out Prf ,in
PAE 1
PDC PDC Prf ,out
1
PAE 1
G
( g v )
2
i R
2
Po = pk
= m in
R
2 2
Po
G= µ gm R
2
Pin
©James Buckwalter 53
CLASS B
©James Buckwalter 54
Class-B Operation
• Drain current on for half
the cycle
ì
ï ipk cos (w ot ) id > 0
iD = í
ïî 0 id £ 0
iD
v pk = - Rcos (w RF t )
2
Note that the current is
v 2pk
VDD
2
half-wave rectified by the
PRF = £
2R 2R voltage is a sine wave!
©James Buckwalter 55
Fourier Components for Half-Wave
ì
ï ipk cos (wot ) id > 0
iD = í
ïî 0 id £ 0
©James Buckwalter 56
Class-B Loadline
©James Buckwalter 57
Harmonic Matching for Class-B
©James Buckwalter 58
Power Dissipation in Class A and Class B
©James Buckwalter 59
Class-B Current Analysis
• IQ should be zero for DC (no power consumption with no input).
• However, quiescent current is obviously not the “average”
current.
• To calculate the d.c. power consumption, the d.c. average power
• Looking at the half-wave drain current, we could also calculate
p
iPK
òi sin (q ) dq £
1
I DC =
2p 0
PK
p
p
iPK
I FUND = ò iPK sin (q ) dq £
1 2
p 0 2
©James Buckwalter 60
Class-B Efficiency
• The output power and DC power are
1 v PK 1 æ iPK ö
2
2
1
PRF = v PK iPK = = R çç ÷÷
2 2 R 2 è 2 ø
iPK
PDC = VDD I DC = VDD
p
• Therefore, the maximum drain efficiency is
v PK
2
PRF p v 2
p v PK
h= = 2R = PK
= ® h MAX = 78%
PDC VDD iPK 2 RVDD iPK 4 VDD
p
©James Buckwalter 61
Class-A versus Class-B
• Comparing power of Class-A and B
VDD
2
VDD
2
PRF ,A = PRF ,B =
2R 2R
A 50% B 78%
©James Buckwalter 62
Class-B Efficiency Revisited
• How does efficiency depend on knee voltage?
• The efficiency depends on the output power
p VRF ,MAX VRF p V MAX -V MIN PRF
h= =
4 VDD VRF ,MAX 4 V MAX +V MIN PRF ,max
pæ V MIN ö PRF
h = çç1- ÷÷
4 è VDD ø PRF ,max
©James Buckwalter 64
Class-B Loadline
©James Buckwalter 65
Class-B Loadline
• The piecewise loadline shown in the previous
slides seems to suggest a loadline.
• However, we should consider the loadline
based on the fundamental. Therefore, the
voltage swing at the fundamental is (Vmax –
Vmin )/2. The current swing is Imax/2.
• The loadline resistance is the same as class-A!
Vmax -Vmin
RL =
I max
©James Buckwalter 66
Maximum Output Power for Class-B
1
PRF = v RF ,MAX iRF ,MAX
2
PRF = (V MAX -VMIN ) I MAX
1
8
©James Buckwalter 67
Gain for Class-B
( g v )
2
i R
2
PRF = pk
= m in
R
8 8
©James Buckwalter 68
Gain
©James Buckwalter 69
Features of Class-B
©James Buckwalter 70
CLASS C
©James Buckwalter 71
Class-C Amplifier
Iout
• Like class-B, IQ= 0 Imax
• Unlike class-B, conduction
angle < 180 deg
• Gain is low since device is
turned on for only a short Vout
period Vmin Vo Vmax
Harmonics are
shorted
Vce
Vrf
Vo
match
match Vo time
RL Ic
Idc time
©James Buckwalter 72
Class-C Amplifier
Iout
• IDC < IRF / p Imax
• PRF < 1/4 VRF IRF
• PDC = VDD IDC
VOUT
VMIN VDD VMAX
Harmonics are
shorted
Vds
VRF
VDD
match
match Vo time
RL Id
IDC time
©James Buckwalter 73
Load Impedance Is A Resonant Network
Vo Representative Z values
Short at all harmonics here
At fo -j2W j2W 10 W
match
RL
Z fo
fo
2fo
©James Buckwalter 74
Class-C Waveform
Ic
ìï i cos f - I when i cosf > I
I (t ) = í PK S PK S
Idc ïî 0 otherwise
time
f
I S is the (negative) offset 1 2p
I ò I (q ) cosq dq = p ò I (q ) cosq dq
2
cosf = S ® I FUND =
iPK iPK is the amplitude p 0 0
f
ò (i cos 2 q - I S cosq ) dq
2
I FUND =
p
PK
0
2 æ1 1 ö
I FUND = ç PK
i f + i sin 2f - I sin f ÷
p è2
PK S
4 ø
f f
2 æ1 ö
ò ò (i
1 1
I DC = I (q )dq = cosq - I DD )dq I FUND
1
= iPK ç f + sin 2f - cos f sin f ÷
2p 2p
PK
0 0 p è2 4 ø
1 i æ 1 ö
I DC = (iPK sin f - I DDf ) I FUND = PK çf - sin 2f ÷
p p è 2 ø
©James Buckwalter 75
Class-C Conduction
• Note the angle φ defined for the waveform
analysis is related to the conduction angle of
the transistor by a factor of two, i.e. 2φ=Φ
• Φ is the conduction angle during which the
current conducts through the transistor. What
happens for Φ of pi or 2pi?
iPK æ F F Fö iPK æ F 1 ö
I DC = çsin - cos ÷ I FUND = ç - sinF ÷
p è 2 2 2ø p è2 2 ø
©James Buckwalter 76
Class-C Efficiency
h=
PRF ,MAX
=
v PK iPK
=
( )
F - sin (F)
PDC 2VDD I DC æ æFö æ F öö
2 ç 2sin ç ÷ - Fcos ç ÷÷
è è2ø è 2 øø
©James Buckwalter 77
Class C Waveform Analysis
• Calculate efficiency in presence of
i pk
1 vPK iPK 1 v pk p F - sin ( F) Vpk VRF,MAX
h= = = f ( F)
2 VDC I DC 2 VDC i pk æFö æ F ö VRF,MAX VDC
2sin ç ÷ - F cos ç ÷
p è2ø è2ø
VFUND VFUND,MAX
h= f ( F)
VFUND,MAX VDC
1 F - sin (F)
æ VMIN ö POUT f ( F) =
h = f (F) ç1- ÷ 2 æFö æFö
2sin ç ÷ - Fcos ç ÷
è VDD ø POUT ,MAX è2ø è2ø
p 1
f ( 0) = 1 f (p ) = f ( 2p ) =
4 2
©James Buckwalter 78
Power Amplifier Comparison
©James Buckwalter 79
Class-C Amplifier Efficiency
• Class C has very good efficiency because whenever the
device has current, Vds is particularly low
Vds
Vrf
Vo
time
ID
Idc
time
©James Buckwalter 80
Class-C Waveform Analysis
Iout
• How about the loadline Imax
resistance?
VFUND
RL =
I FUND Vmin Vo VmaxVout
VMAX -VMIN
VFUND =
2
æF 1 ö
I FUND = I S ç - sin F ÷
è2 2 ø 20
æ Fö 18
I MAX = I S - I O = I S ç1- cos ÷ 16
è 2ø
RL / RL Class A
14
I æF 1 ö I F - sinF
12
©James Buckwalter 81
Gain and Conduction Angle
Gain (dB)
Class AB "ideal"
Class A Class AB "real"
6dB
Class B ideal
Class B real
Pin (dBm)
Class C "real"
©James Buckwalter 82
Power Amplifier Comparison
• Maximum voltage swing
is 2Vo – Vmin
• Gain is 6 dB lower for
class-B than class-A,
expect it to be even
lower than class-C.
• Power density is the
same for class A and B
but lower for class C.
©James Buckwalter 83
Other Classes of Amplifiers
• PA research is focused around getting high-
power power at high-efficiency.
• Class D Amplifiers
– Push-pull style amplifier
• Class E/F Amplifiers
– Switching amplifiers which can allow 100% PAE
but require care with harmonics
• Class J Amplifier
– Overdriven class-A
©James Buckwalter 84