Bandwidth Extension of the Doherty Power Amplifier Using the Impedance Distribution and Control Circuit for the Post-Matching Network

Abstract

Owing to the high impedance transformation ratio, the Doherty power amplifier (DPA) with a large output power back-off generally has bandwidth limitations. This study proposes an asymmetric DPA with an impedance distribution and control circuit (IDCC) at the post-matching network to improve the bandwidth. The IDCC, based on a resonance circuit and a series transmission line, distributes and controls the load impedance according to the frequency so that the bandwidth of the DPA can be extended. To verify the proposed IDCC, an asymmetric DPA was designed using GaN HEMT with a power capacity of 6 W and 10 W for the carrier and peaking amplifiers, respectively. The implemented DPA was evaluated for the broad frequency band between 3.3 GHz and 3.8 GHz using a 5G new radio (NR) signal with a bandwidth of 100 MHz and a peak-to-average power ratio of 7.8 dB. A drain efficiency between 43.2% and 50.7% and an adjacent channel leakage power ratio between –23.4 dBc and –27.3 dBc were achieved at an average power level that ranged between 33.5 dBm and 34.3 dBm.