Efficiency Enhancement for Distributed Power Amplifier Design with GaN HEMT Technology

This paper presents the new design of distributed amplifier (DA) with control mechanism to enhance the efficiency performance by tuning the impedance at the gate termination adjustment network and applying drain line tapering topology. This distributed power amplifier (DPA) system is design based on the GaN high electron mobility (HEMT) transistor and simulated by using Advanced System Design tool (ADS). The detail of the design has demonstrated and achieved an output power of similar to 40 dBm, flat gain at 10 dB, and bandwidth covering 100MHz to 2.4 GHz, with power added efficiency (PAE) of similar to 40 %. As a result, this work has demonstrating significant improvement in efficiency over the conventional DA and offers wide band operation for public safety applications.