Optimization of Power Amplifier Transfer Characteristics

摘要

This paper presents a method to maximize the performance of (PAs) in terms of output power, linearity, and efficiency by determining the optimal transfer function (TF). The TF is, for a memoryless PA, defined as the relationship between input voltage and output current for a specific load impedance and drain bias. The optimization method is based on a piecewise representation of the TF, which yields compact algebraic expressions for the PA performance parameters and, thus, an efficient implementation. To illustrate the method, results for TFs optimized for linearity, efficiency, and a compound specification are presented. Device manufacturers can, with the presented method tailor their component characteristics to improve the performance for specific requirements. Circuit designers can, on their hand, synthesize the optimal TF by superposition of TFs from components available.