Class-F power amplifier with 80.1% maximum PAE at 2 GHz for cellular base-station applications

A GaN HEMT class-F power amplifier (PA) achieving a high maximum power added efficiency (PAE) is presented. The class-F PA exhibits maximum PAE of 80.1% with an output power of 40.7 dBm at 2 GHz. The PA maintains PAE higher than 50% at 6-dB input back off. The PA shows PAE higher than 70% over 200-MHz frequency range from 1.9 GHz to 2.1 GHz. Source-pull and load-pull techniques in large-signal analysis were conducted to achieve optimum impedance terminations at fundamental and harmonics.