Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium Proceedings, Cambridge, USA, July 58, 2010

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A Highly Ecient Doherty Power Amplier with Impedance Transform

Guorui Yang, Quanyuan Feng, and Wen Pan Institute of Microelectronics, Southwest Jiaotong University, ChengDu 610031, China

Abstract This paper analyses the eciency inuence factors for the Doherty amplier output
network with nite device output impedance. It presents an impedance transform method which changes the proportion of impedance to enhance eciency, and reduces the load impedance of Doherty from 25 to 12.5 for decrease loss. So an enhanced Doherty amplier is implemented at 2.14 GHz using freescale devices. It achieves a linear power gain of 14.4 dB with 1-dB output compression at 53.6 dBm while PAE is 58.4%, and the PAE is 39.5% at 46 dBm which is improved about 5.2% comparison with the classical structure. 1. INTRODUCTION

In modern wireless communication system, power amplier is the import module of transmit, it transforms DC power into RF power, and supplys the antenna with RF signal, So the Amplier is the most power consume cell of the communication system. At the same time, it requires that the RF signals should be amplied with no distortion for better communication quality. So enhance eciency and satisfy the linearity requirements are critical for the power amplier. In recent years, several PA performance enhancement techniques including Kahn envelope elimination and restoration (EER), envelop tracking (ET), linear amplication using nonlinear component (LINC), and Doherty techniques and so on [1, 2] are being actively reported. In those techniques, the Doherty amplier is the most promising choice with simple structure and high eciency, as Fig. 1 shows. The Doherty technique was developed in the 1930s by W. H. Doherty [3], and the basic operation principles has been well described in [4, 5]. The classical Doherty amplier consists of two cell with the main amplier cell and the auxiliary amplier cell. The clou is enhances eciency by load modulate. At low output power levels, the main amplier cell operates as a linear current source and the auxiliary amplier is cut o, and at high output power, the main amplier cell acts as a invariable voltage source, and the auxiliary amplier operates as a linear current source. Each cell loads impedance changes with its output current, and insures the high eciency of amplier keep a wide power range, as Fig. 2 shows. For realizes the main cell operate and the auxiliary cell cut o at low power levels, the main amplier is biased at class AB or class B mode, and the auxiliary amplier is biased at class C mode. However, each amplier cell is the source with innite device output impedance in fact, the output current of each cell will mutual feed-in and lead the terminal load current decrease, the output power loss and the eciency fall. For solves this problem, one advanced method is apply the uneven power drive structure to improve the linearity and enhance the eciency at suitable
100

2-Stage DPA
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Class B PA Extended DPA

Efficiency (%)

Main PA

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3-Stage DPA

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RF Input RL Power Splitter

4

20

-24

-21

-18

-15

-12

-9

-6

-3

Auxiliary PA

Output Back-off (dB)

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of the classical Doherty amplier.

Figure 2: Eciency of the multiple Doherty PA using ideal class B power amplier.

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2-Stage DPA (Ideal)

i Main
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iM
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Class B PA (Ideal) 2-Stage DPA (ZL=25 Ohm) 2-Stage Extended DPA (ZL=12.5 Ohm; ZT/ZL=2.512) 2-Stage DPA (ZL=12.5 Ohm)

i Main

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vMain

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iO
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vO

ZL

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i Aux

Z Aux
vAux

Z OA

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Figure 3: Doherty output network with nite device output impedance.

Figure 4: Eciency of the multiple Doherty PA with nite device output impedance.

proportion [6]. Other is apply the extended structure to choose a suitable proportion of current at peak power levels and enhance eciency [7]. This paper analyses the operation principles of Doherty PA output network with innite device output impedance, and attempt to enhance the eciency by impedance transform.
2. ANALYSIS OF DOHERTY STRUCTURE WITH FINITE DEVICE OUTPUT IMPEDANCE

The Doherty output network with nite device output impedance as Fig. 3 shows. iMain and iAux are the mean output current of the main cell and the auxiliary cell, which is controlled by the input port of each cell, respectively. ZOM and ZOA are the nite device output impedance, ZL is the load impedance, and ZT is the quarter-wave microstrip characteristic impedance. Moreover, assume that the microstrip is lossless and the main cell and the auxiliary cell are using ideal Class B power ampliers. Base the superposition principle, the current source iMain and iAux independently operates, im O and ia are the current of each cell feed-in the load terminal, respectively. So iO adds up to: O iMain ZT + Z2 ZL + T ZOM
2 iAux ZT Z iMain ZT ZOM OM = iM + iA 2 Z ZOA ZL ZT L + ZOM ZOA

iO = im + ia = O O

(1)

the load current iO is decreased on account of the nite impedance ZOM and ZOA , Thereby more output power loss and the ecient fall. The eciency of the Doherty amplier is calculated by: 0 1 B C 1 vO V DD B0 vO C 100% 2 ZL @ ZT ZT ZL V DD ZT ZL A 1+ ZT + ZOM + ZOM ZOA ZL ZOA 0 1 (2) = 2 B C 2 1 v V DD C O 100% B vO V DD @ZT A V DD ZL ZL ZL ZL ZL v 1+ + + V DD 1+
O

ZOA

ZT

ZOM

ZT

ZL

ZOA

In (2), is the drain eciency, V DD is the drain DC voltage, and vO is the mean voltage of load terminal in Fig. 3. From (2), the power back-o point is equated with the milestone of vO which can being express: V DD (3) vO = ZL ZT 1+ ZL ZOA So the power back-o point has relationship with the value of ZT /ZL when premise ZOA is innite. When the proportion become bigger, the main cell is saturated early and the auxiliary cell

Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium Proceedings, Cambridge, USA, July 58, 2010 Table 1: Relationship of ZT /ZL to power back-o point. Power Back-o Point ZL /ZT ZT /ZL 3 dB 0.708 1.413 4 dB 0.603 1.585 5 dB 0.562 1.778 6 dB 0.501 1.995 7 dB 0.447 2.239 8 dB 0.398 2.512 9 dB 0.355 2.818 10 dB 0.316 3.162 11 dB 0.282 3.548 12 dB 0.251 3.981

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feed more current in the load terminal, the extended power range of high eciency become wide. The relationship of ZT /ZL to power back-o point as the Table 1 shows. At the same time, the drain eciency reduces in all power range because of the nite impedance ZOM and ZOA in (2). If play down the load impedance ZL when ZT /ZL is ensured, the load current iO will increase and more power feed-in the terminal, and the eciency is improved. Fig. 4 indicates the eciency of the Doherty amplier with nite device output impedance which can enhances eciency by transform impedance properly.
3. AMPLIFIER IMPLEMENTATION AND RESULTS

To validate anterior analysis, a 2.14 GHz Doherty power amplier using Freescale MRF6S21140H devices with impedance transform is implemented. Fig. 5 shows the measured power-added eciency (PAE) of an extended Doherty amplier with dierent ZT /ZL , the eciency is enhanced in low power level with the proportion rise, but its linearity decline in high power level of because of impedance mismatching. Fig. 6 shows the measured PAE of an extended Doherty amplier with dierent load impedance (ZL = 12.5 , 25 ) for an single-tone signal, the PAE with lower load impedance is improved by 1.0% at output power of 46 dBm (40 W).
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2- Stage DPA (ZT/ZL=1.585) A=1.995 A=1.585 A=2.512 A=3.162 A=3.981

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2-Stage Extended DPA (ZL=12.5 Ohm; ZT/ZL=2.512) 2-Stage Extended DPA (ZL=12.5 Ohm; ZT/ZL=2.512) Balanced BPA (Class AB)

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2- Stage DPA (ZT/ZL=1.995) 2- Stage DPA (ZT/ZL=2.512) 2- Stage DPA (ZT/ZL=3.162)

PAE (%)

PAE (%)

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2- Stage DPA (ZT/ZL=3.981) Ba la nc e d PA (Class AB)

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Figure 5: Eciency of the Doherty amplier with dierent proportion of ZL to ZT .

Figure 6: Eciency of the extended Doherty amplier with dierent load impedance.

HARMONIC BALANCE
HarmonicBalance HB1 Freq[1]=RFfreq Order[1]=5 UseKrylov=auto EquationName[1]="RFfreq" EquationName[2]="RFpower" EquationName[3]="Zload" Set these values:
Var Eqn Var Eqn

VAR VAR7 VMG=2.7 VAG=1.8 PowerDivider_Model PowerSplitter

PDin PDout1

V_DC SRC1 Vdc=VMG V

PMGS PMin Main PA PMDS PMout

V_DC SRC2 Vdc=28 V MLIN TL2 Subst="MSub1" W=3.349450 mm L=20.542100 mm

FSL_TECH_INCLUDE FSL_TECH_INCLUDE FTI Var VAR Eqn VAR3 MOL=0.5 MLIN AOL=4.5 TL3 Subst="MSub1" W=3.349450 mm L=MOL mm

MSub
MSUB MSub1 H=0.762 mm Er=3.5 Cond=5.88E+7 Hu=1.0e+033 mm T=0.035 mm

PDout2 Power Divider

VAR VAR1 RFfreq=2140 MHz RFpower=10 _dBm Zload=50

P_1Tone PORT1 Num=1 Z=50 Ohm P=dbmtow(RFpower) Freq=RFfreq

MLIN TL1 Subst="MSub1" W=1.678630 mm L=21.1964 mm V_DC SRC3 Vdc=VAG V

PA_ClassAB_Model Main_PA_Class_AB

PA_ClassC_Model Auxiliary_PA_Class_C
Auxiliary PA PAin PAGS PAout PADS

V_DC SRC4 Vdc=28 V

MLIN TL4 Subst="MSub1" W=3.349450 mm L=AOL mm

MLIN TL5 Subst="MSub1" W=4.529670 mm L=20.264800 mm Term Term1 Num=2 Z=Zload

Figure 7: Schematic diagram of the highly eciency Doherty power amplier with impedance transform.

Form the foregoing simulate results, an enhanced Doherty power amplier with ZL = 12.5 and ZT /ZL = 2.512 is designed with Freescale MRF6S21140H devices and the Taconic RF-35 laminates (r 3.5, 0.030 ) for high eciency, as Fig. 7 shows. The input signal is divided equally

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PIERS Proceedings, Cambridge, USA, July 58, 2010

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2-Stage Classical DPA Gain (dB) 2-Stage Extended DPA Pout (dBm)

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2-Stage Extended DPA (ZL=12.5 Ohm; ZT/ZL=2.512) Balanced PA (Class AB)

Output Power (dBm)

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PAE (%)

Class AB 2-Stage Classical DPA (ZL=25 Ohm; ZT/ZL=2)

Gain (dB)

40 30 20 10

10 10 15 4 20 25 30 35 40 45

0 30 33 36 39 42 45 48 51 54 56

Input Power (dBm)

Output Power (dBm)

Figure 8: Output power and gain of the enhanced Doherty power amplier.

Figure 9: PAE of the enhanced DPA and the classical DPA.

by a microstrip Wilkinson power divider cell before feeding to the input matching network. The main amplier is biased at Class AB (V GSMain = 2.7 V) and the auxiliary amplier is biased at Class C (V GSAux = 1.8 V), both drain voltage are set to V DD = 28 V. At the same time, two cell are further optimized to achieve high eciency and power, which source impedance and load impedance are matching to 50 and 25 , respectively. The impedance transformation from the terminal load (ZLoad = 50 ) to ZL = 12.5 is done using a quarter-wave microstrip line TL5 (Z0 = 25 ) and the quarter-wave transformation from ZL to the output of the main cell is done using microstrip TL2 (Z0 = 2.512 ZL = 31.4 ), the microstrip TL3 and TL4 are the oset lines for reduce the mutual feed-in current. The design is tested with a single-tone signal at 2.14 GHz, the results as Figs. 8 and 9 shows. Figure 8 depicts the gain and the output power of the enhanced Doherty amplier, it achieves a linear power gain of 14.4 dB with 1-dB output compression at 53.6 dBm, the gain is improved by 0.4 dB comparison with classical DPA. Fig. 9 depicts the measured PAE of the enhanced DPA and the classical DPA, the PAE of the enhanced Doherty amplier with impedance transformation is measured to be 58.4% at 1-dB compression point, and 39.5% at 8 dB back-o which output power achieves 46 dBm. In comparison with the 2-stage classical DPA (ZL = 25 , ZT /ZL = 2) and the balanced PA (Class AB), the measured PAE is improved about 5.2% and 18.4% with the output power 46 dBm. Though the linearity of the enhanced Doherty amplier deteriorated because the class C cell feed-in more power at high power levels, it can achieves more high eciency and gain.
4. CONCLUSION

This paper present the extended structure and reduce the load impedance method to enhance eciency, and an enhanced Doherty power amplier with impedance transform (ZL = 12.5 , ZT /ZL = 2.512) is designed. In comparison with the classical structure and the balanced structure, the PAE is improved about 5.2% and 18.4% with the output power 46 dBm, and achieves a linear power gain of 14.4 dB with 1-dB output compression at 53.6 dBm which PAE is 58.4%. The experimental result shows that the impedance transform method is feasibility in Doherty ampliers.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Contract No. 60990320.
REFERENCES

1. Yang, Y., J. Cha, B. Shin, and B. Kim, A fully matched N-way Doherty amplier with optimized linearity, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 51, No. 3, 986993, 2003. 2. Pelk, M. J., W. C. E. Neo, J. R. Gajadharsing, R. S. Pengelly, and De Vreede, L. C. N., A higheciency 100-W GaN three-way Doherty for base-station applications, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 110, 2008. 3. Doherty, W. H., A new high eciency power amplier for modulate waves, Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 24, No. 9, 11631182, 1936. 4. Raab, F. H., Eciency of Doherty RF power-ampliers, IEEE Trans. Broadcast, Vol. 33, No. 3, 7783, 1987.

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