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PAE improvement and compensation of small‐signal gain drift due to temperature on power amplifiers through active biasing
Author(s) -
TorregrosaPenalva Germán,
AsensioLópez Alberto,
OrtegaGonzález F. Javier,
BlancodelCampo Álvaro
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
microwave and optical technology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.304
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1098-2760
pISSN - 0895-2477
DOI - 10.1002/mop.11069
Subject(s) - amplifier , electrical engineering , common gate , rf power amplifier , power added efficiency , biasing , direct coupled amplifier , linear amplifier , engineering , mesfet , electronic engineering , fet amplifier , power bandwidth , voltage , transistor , operational amplifier , cmos , field effect transistor
Power millimetre‐wave band transmitters are commonly formed by a chain of MESFET or HEMT GaAs MMIC power amplifiers. Under large‐signal conditions the reverse gate output current, which appears at the gate port of those devices due to drain‐gate breakdown mechanisms, causes a drop in the power amplifier's power added efficiency (PAE) figure, thus affecting the entire transmitter reliability. Additionally, it is desirable to obtain a stable performance from the transmitters for different ambient temperatures. In particular, millimetre‐wave wireless systems, such as the local multipoint distribution system (LMDS), require constant small signal gain for a wide range of temperatures. In this paper, an active bias network is used to compensate for both effects. The performance of the active bias network is shown to be superior, in terms of the power amplifier's PAE and the compensation of the power amplifier's small signal gain drifts due to temperature, to a conventional resistive divider when used for biasing the power amplifier. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 38: 389–392, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.11069