Analysis of Efficiency-Limiting Factors Resulting from Transistor Current Source on Class-F and Inverse Class-F Power Amplifiers

Abstract

This paper describes the efficiency-limiting factors resulting from transistor current source in the case of class-F and inverse class-F (F^-1) operations under saturated region. We investigated the influence of knee voltage and gate-voltage clipping behaviors on drain efficiency as limiting factors for the current source. Numerical analysis using a simplified transistor model was carried out. As a result, we have demonstrated that the limiting factor for class-F^-1 operation is the gate-diode conduction rather than knee voltage. On the other hand, class-F PA is restricted by the knee voltage effects. Furthermore, nonlinear measurements carried out on a GaN HEMT validate our analytical results.