High power high efficiency microwave power amplifier design using Class-E topology

Abstract

Power consumption is a major problem in wireless technology. Since power ampli- fier is one of the most power consuming element, efficiency of the power amplifier should be optimized. Switching amplifiers typically offer very high efficiency. As the frequency increases, the efficiency drops. Class-E is a switching amplifier which is suitable for microwave frequencies. It attains a very high efficiency with proper voltage and current characteristics. Different techniques to obtain these characteristics are possible. In this work, we implement a 38 dBm power amplifier at 2 GHz. Different methods are examined to obtain a high efficiency behavior. We obtained a power added efficiency of 60%.