CHAPTER THIRTEEN RF POWER AMPLIFIERS 13.1 INTRODUCTION In this chapter, we study the problem of delivering RF power efficiently to a load. As we'll discover very quickly, scaled-up versions of the small-signal amplifiers we've studied so far are fundamentally incapable of high efficiency, and other approaches must be considered. As usual, tradeoffs are involved, this time among linearity, power gain, output power, and efficiency. Power amplifiers (PAs) may be divided into several categories, depending on whether they're broadband or narrowband, and whether they're intended for linear or constant-envelope operation. A linear amplifier is simply one that produces an output that is intended to be a faithful replica of the input. A constant-envelope am- plifier, on the other hand, is one that generally produces an output whose amplitude is ideally independent of the input. As we'll see, constant-envelope amplifiers pro- vide the highest efficiency, so for constant-amplitude signals (such as FM), they are perfectly suitable. The original analog (“AMPS”) cellular telephones use FM, and. their transmitter output stages are generally of the constant-envelope type.? Other communications systems employ amplitude modulation, however, and therefore de- mand much greater linearity. The variety of power amplifier topologies reflects the inability of any single circuit to satisfy all requirements. 13.2 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS Contrary to what one’s intuition might suggest, the maximum power transfer theo rem is largely useless in the design of power amplifiers. One minor reason is that it ' Advanced Mobile Phone Service. 2 It should be mentioned that constant-envelope amplifiers ean provide linear operation, but requite techniques that are difficult with IC components. We will have mote to say on this subject inthe section on Class C amplifiers 3d13.3 CLASS A, AB, B, AND C POWER AMPLIFIERS 345 ‘we = BFL Ke . BFC 4 2 YIN $ 4, et 1 wv FIGURE 13.1. General power amplifier model. isn’t entirely clear how to define impedances in a large-signal, nonlinear system. A more important reason is that even if we were able to solve that little problem and subsequently arrange for a conjugate match, the efficiency would be only 50% be- ‘cause equal amounts of power are then dissipated in the source and load. In many cases, this value is unacceptably low. As an extreme (but realistic) example, con- sider the problem of delivering 50 kW into an antenna if the amplifier is only 50% efficient. The circuit dissipation would be 50 kW as well, presenting a rather chal- lenging thermal management problem. Even in the low-power domain of portable communications devices such as cellular phones, high efficiency is extremely desir- able to extend battery life or reduce battery weight. Hence, instead of limiting efficiency to 50% by maximizing power transfer, one generally designs a PA to deliver a specified amount of power into a load with the highest possible efficiency consistent with acceptable power gain and linearity, To see how one may achieve these goals by blithely ignoring the maximum power trans- fer theorem, we now consider a classic power amplifier topology. 13.3 CLASS A, AB, B, AND C POWER AMPLIFIERS There are four types of power amplifiers, distinguished primarily by bias conditions, that may be termed “classic” because of their historical precedence. These are labeled Class A, AB, B, and C, and all four may be understood by studying the single model sketched in Figure 13.1.3 In this general model, the resistor R,, represents the load into which we are to deliver the output power. A “big, fat” inductance, BFL, feeds DC power to the drain, and is assumed large enough so that the current through it is substantially con- stant. The drain is connected to a tank circuit through capacitor BFC to prevent any * Many variations on this theme exist, but the operating features of all of them may still be under- stood with this model346 CHAPTER 13. RF POWER AMPLIFIERS DC dissipation in the load. One advantage of this particular configuration is that the transistor’s output capacitance can be absorbed into the tank, as in a conven- tional small-signal amplifier. Another is that the filtering provided by the tank cuts down on out-of-band emissions caused by ever-present nonlinearities. This consider- ation is particularly important here because we are no longer restricting ourselves 0 mall-signal operation and must therefore expect some distortion, To simplify anal- ysis, we assume that the tank has a high enough @Q that the voltage across the tank is well approximated by a sinusoid, even if it is fed by nonsinusoidal currents, This assumption necessarily implies narrowband operation, Although broadband power amplifiers are certainly also of interest, we will limit the present discussion to the narrowband case. 13.3.1 CLASS A AMPLIFIERS ‘The Class A power amplifier is just a standard, textbook small-signal amplifier on steroids, The assumption in Class A design (indeed, its defining characteristic) is that bias levels are chosen so that the transistor operates (quasi-) linearly. For a bipolar realization, this condition is satisfied by avoiding cutoff and saturation; for MOS implementations, the transistor is kept in the pentode (saturation*) region of operation. ‘The primary distinction between Class A power amplifiers and small-signal am- plifiers is that the signal currents ina PA are a substantial fraction of the bias level, and one would therefore expect potentially serious distortion, In narrowband op- eration, as implied by the general circuit model, a tank circuit solves the distortion problem potentially associated with such large swings so that, overall, linear opera tion prevails. Although linearity is certainly desirable, the Class A amplifier provides it at the expense of efficiency because there is always dissipation due to the bias current, even when there is no signal. ‘To understand quantitatively why the efficiency is poor, as- sume that the drain current is reasonably well approximated by: ip = Inc + ix sin@ot, () where pe is the bias current, i;¢ is the amplitude of the signal component of the drain current, and 9 is the signal frequency (and also the resonant frequency of the: tank). Although we have glibly ignored distortion, the errors introduced are not se~ rious enough to invalidate what follows. ‘The output voltage is simply the product of a signal current and the load resis- tance. Since the big, fat inductor BFL forces a substantially constant current through 4 Tis unfortunate indeed that the word “saturation” has opposing meanings for MOS and bipolar devices.