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School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL,
United Kingdom. email: charlesnwakanma.akwuruoha@manchester.ac.uk, Z.Hu@manchester.ac.uk
This paper proposes Microstrip non-Foster circuit (NFC) NFC PAs face challenges such as instability, noise and
enhanced high efficiency high power class-J GaN HEMT power handling capability and therefore requires detail
(gallium nitride high electron mobility transistor) amplifier. The stability analysis and informed choice of PA topology. In
NFC enhances the performance of the power amplifier (PA) by
cancelling the power transistor’s input parasitic capacitance. The this paper, the use of NFC to sustain the 200 MHz
PA was designed based on Cree’s CGHV40030FP GaN HEMT bandwidth and enhance such performance of high power
biased with drain supply voltage of 50 V at quiescent drain-to- Class-J GaN HEMT PA as drain efficiency and PAE is
source current (IDSq) of 15 mA. The NFC is part of the input proposed.
matching network and contains two GaN HEMTs biased with Class-J PA was first proposed by Cripps [8] and aims to
drain supply voltage of 20 V at IDSq of 3 mA. The PA operates
from 2.0 to 2.2 GHz. The NFC negative capacitance at 2.1GHz mitigate the bandwidth limitations of Class AB or B PA by
center frequency stood at -2.4 pF. The NFC PA has output power minimizing the effects of transistor output parasitic
of 43.9 dBm (24.5 W), 69.3% drain efficiency, 66.4% power capacitance on the fundamental load. This often results in
added efficiency (PAE) and transducer power gain of 11.9 dB. sustenance of PA performance at the level of Classes AB or
Index Terms — Class-J, high efficiency high power, B. Class-J PA design using packaged GaN HEMT transistor
Microstrip non-Foster circuit, negative capacitance, GaN have been reported in [9]. However, the reported class-J PA
HEMT power amplifier.
did not consider the use of NFC to cancel the input parasitic
capacitance of the power transistor to enhance the PA
I. INTRODUCTION performance as proposed here. The combination of Class-J
topology and NFC in this work is aimed at counteracting the
Non-Foster circuits find application in microwave circuits
effects of transistor input and output parasitic capacitances in
requiring the cancellation of parasitic capacitance and/or
the PA thereby improving performance. This paper is
inductance to improve circuit performance and enhance
structured as follows. Class- theory is discussed. Section III
bandwidth. The non-Foster circuits violate Foster theorem.
treats NFC theory and design. Section IV discusses the
R. M. Foster in his early paper [1] described Foster circuits
proposed PA circuit design and results. Section V concludes
as those which have positive reactance-frequency slope as
the paper.
well as reflection coefficient which move in clockwise
direction with respect to frequency on Smith chart. The
circuit elements which obey Foster theorem such as positive II. CLASS-J THEORY
capacitor and inductor are referred to as Foster elements.
Class-J power amplifier aims to mitigate the effect of
Non-Foster circuit elements include negative capacitor and
transistor output capacitance (drain-to-source capacitance)
inductor. The non-Foster elements have negative reactance-
on the fundamental load of the PA by the applying reactive
frequency slope as well as reflection coefficient which
terminations at the fundamental and second harmonic
moves in a counter clockwise direction with respect to
thereby changing it from resistive to reactive regime [8]- [9].
frequency on Smith chart. Non-Foster circuits are classified
Class-J theory assumes that higher order even harmonics
into negative impedance converters (NIC) and negative
than the second harmonic do not exist while the third
impedance inverters (NII) [2]. The NIC provides the
harmonic is considered short. The output current and voltage
negative capacitance required to cancel the parasitic
are 45o out of phase. The fundamental and second harmonic
capacitance of the transistor. The implementation of NIC
components of impedance Zfund and Zsec are respectively
using active circuit was first proposed by Linvill [3]. The
related to the load resistance (Rload) by
NIC was described as four-pole network such that the input
Zfund = Rload + j*Rload (1)
current is equal to the output current while having an input
voltage equal to the negative of the output voltage. NIC was
Zsec = - j*3π/8 * Rload (2)
classified as open circuit stable and short circuit stable. In
this paper, NIC will hereafter be referred to as NFC. NFC
have reportedly been used to enhance the bandwidth of
antennas [4]- [5] and Doherty power amplifier (DPA) [6].
NFC was also used as the inter-stage matching network of
GaN pHEMT PA [7].
given by [10]
2.0
VGS NFC:
dXFC / dω > 0 and dBFC / dω > 0 (4) 1.5
VDS = 20 V
IDS (A)
IDS = 3 mA
VGS = -2.9 V
dXNFC / dω < 0 and dBNFC / dω < 0 (5) 1.0
PA:
VDS = 50 V
0.5 IDS = 15 mA
B. Design VGS = -2.9 V
In accordance with (5), the NFC design must provide the 0.0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
negative reactance-frequency slope to achieve the effective VDS (V)
30
width/length. The NFC provides negative reactance- 65
25
frequency slope as well as negative capacitance across the Imaginary ZIN
Magnitude ZIN
20
200 MHz bandwidth from 2.0 to 2.2 GHz as shown in the 60
effective negative capacitance of the NFC stood at -1.9 to - 2.00 2.05 2.10 2.15 2.20
Frequency (GHz)
6.9 pF from 2.0 to 2.2 GHz. To ensure that the NFC
forestall oscillations, the NFC was stabilized, simulated and Fig. 3. Magnitude and Imaginary part of input
confirmed to be unconditionally stable before before impedance
introducing putting the NFC in the input network of the
class-J PA.
-1
-2
Effective Capacitance (pF)
-3 C
-4
-5
-6
-7
Frequency (GHz)
50 V
Width / Length (mm)
-2.9 V
εr - 4.6 148 pF
200 nH
0.8 / 2.5
1.8 / 3.8
1.5 / 2.5 0.5 pF
1.5 / 1.5
25 Ω 1.5 / 3.7
NFC
200 pF 140 pF
1.5 / 1.5 1.5 / 2.5
10 / 1.2 8.5 pF 1.5 / 2.5
1.6 / 1.7
14 pF 10 / 1.3 28.5 / 1.3 2.3 / 2.5
9 / 6.1
50 Ω
10 / 1.2 50Ω 0.7 / 1.3 30 / 10 0.3 / 1.2 0.3 / 1.2
50 Ω 0.3 / 1.5
Stability Measure
Stability Factor
1.4
50V at quiescent drain-to-source current of 15 mA as 1.3
0.8
shown in the bias points in Fig. 1. Source and Load pull 1.2
0.7
output power. The NFC forms part of the input network 2.00 2.05 2.10 2.15 2.20
Frequency (GHz)
of the PA. The main components of the PA are
distributed transmission lines and lumped components. Fig. 6. Stability Factor and Stability Measure
The transmission lines width / length (mm) are shown in
the schematic. The PA source and load impedances
stood at 50Ω. The PA was driven with an input power of
32 dBm at 2.1 GHz.
B. Performance
Small signal S-parameter simulation was carried out to Fig. 7. Nyquist Stability Criterion
determine the stability of the PA. The PA was found to
II. Large Signal Simulation
be unconditionally stable as shown in Fig. 6. The
stability considerations in this work are two-fold: the
One-tone harmonic balance simulation carried out on
Rollet stability factor /measure [11] and Nyquist
the PA in two instances. In the first instance, the input
stability criterion. The stability factor and measure are
2017 IEEE International Conference on Microwaves, Antennas, Communications and Electronic Systems (COMCAS)
70
16
60 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Drain Efficiency (%)
15
50
The Authors are grateful to Tertiary Education Trust Fund
Gain (dB)
40 14
of Nigeria for sponsoring this work. We also wish to thank
30 DE
Gain 13 Cree Incorporations for providing the model used in this
20
12
work.
10
0 11
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
REFERENCES
PIN (dBm)
30 PAE 40
25 30
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20 20
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0 5 10 15 20 25 30
PIN (dBm)
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“2nd ed., Boston, Artech House, Inc. 2006.
72 45
[9] P. Wright, J. Lees, J. Benedikt, P. J. Tasker and S. C. Cripps, “A
70 Methodology for Realizing High Efficiency Class-J in a Linear and
40
Drain Efficiency (%) and PAE (%)
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POUT (dBm) and Gain (dB)