Introduction To The Doherty Amplifier
Introduction To The Doherty Amplifier
Introduction To The Doherty Amplifier
Today, high efficiency and good linearity have become important figures of merit for power amplifiers in CDMA & WCDMA base
stations. The microwave & RF Doherty amplifier is the most promising solution for this use.
http://www.postech.ac.kr/ee/mmic/poweramp/doherty_amplifier_modified.html[29/10/2010 07:59:31]
Doherty Amplifier
Fig. 1.(a) The conventional Doherty amplifier. (b) The proposed Doherty amplifier.
High Power Amplifier for CDMA Base Stations Using Doherty Configuration
We have excluded it. Two 2.14GHz high power Doherty amplifiers are implemented using two MRF5S21090 and a MRF5P21180,
respectively, and are optimized at 40W for high efficiency and good linearity using IS95 8FA CDMA signal.
performance
http://www.postech.ac.kr/ee/mmic/poweramp/doherty_amplifier_modified.html[29/10/2010 07:59:31]
Doherty Amplifier
(a) (b)
Fig. 3. Measured performances of the highly efficienct Doherty and Balaned amplifiers with IS95 8FA CDMA signal. (a) ACLR.(b)
Efficiency.
ACLR [dBc]
Gain [dB] Efficiency [%]
-2.25 MHz +2.25 MHz
Balanced_21090*2 11.16 23.6 -31.5 -31.0
Doherty_21090*2 9.86 34.8 -31.5 -31.3
Doherty_21180 10.3 40.0 -31.3 -31.6
TABLE
Measured performance at Pout = 46dBm for IS95A 8FA signal
Fig. 4. Power spectral densities at an output power 46dBm for a IS95A 8FA CDMA signal
These experimental results clearly demonstrate that the microwave Doherty amplifier is a good candidate for power amplifier of
CDMA base station application that requires high efficiency as well as good linearity .
http://www.postech.ac.kr/ee/mmic/poweramp/doherty_amplifier_modified.html[29/10/2010 07:59:31]
Doherty Amplifier
Load modulation can be analyzed using ideal current sources. Fig 1. (a) shows an operational diagram to analyze the load modulation
characteristics for the N-way Doherty amplifier. A schematic diagram of the N-way Doherty amplifier is shown in Fig 1. (b). The N-
way Doherty amplifier is composed of an N-way power splitter/combiner, fully power matched amplifiers for the carrier and peaking
amplifiers, offset lines, and quarter-wave transformers.
performance
(a) (b)
Fig. 2. Measured performances of the two-way Doherty and class-AB amplifiers with one- and two-carrier down-link WCDMA
signals. (a) ACLRs.(b) PAEs.
http://www.postech.ac.kr/ee/mmic/poweramp/doherty_amplifier_modified.html[29/10/2010 07:59:31]
Doherty Amplifier
(a) (b)
Fig. 3. Measured performances of the three-way Doherty and class-AB amplifiers with one- and two-carrier down-link WCDMA
signals. (a) ACLRs.(b) PAEs.
(a) (b)
Fig. 4. Measured performances of the four-way Doherty and class-AB amplifiers with one- and two-carrier down-link WCDMA
signals. (a) ACLRs.(b) PAEs.
http://www.postech.ac.kr/ee/mmic/poweramp/doherty_amplifier_modified.html[29/10/2010 07:59:31]
Doherty Amplifier
performance
(a) (b)
Fig. 6. Measured performances of the 3-way Doherty and class-AB amplifiers with one- and two-carrier down-link WCDMA signals.
(a) one-carrier.(b) two-carrier.
TABLE
Measured performance at Pout = 40dBm for WCDMA signal
http://www.postech.ac.kr/ee/mmic/poweramp/doherty_amplifier_modified.html[29/10/2010 07:59:31]
Doherty Amplifier
Fig. 7. Power spectral densities at an output power 40dBm for a WCDMA 2FA ( spacing =10MHz ).
The experimental results show that the 3-way Doherty amplifier with predistorter is a good alternative for a cheap repeater system
that requires less stringent linearity requirement and small power handling than a base station system.
performance
For the experiments, a 2.14GHz Doherty amplifier have been implemented using 4 watt PEP LDMOSFETs. The gate control biases of the Doherty amplifier
have been optimized for the maximum power added efficiency(PAE) at –30dBc ACLR. The tests have been performed using a forward-link WCDMA signal
and the performances of the amplifier have been compared with those of class AB and conventional Doherty amplifiers. The measured performance is shown
below.
TABLE
Measured performance at ACLR = -30dBc for WCDMA signal
http://www.postech.ac.kr/ee/mmic/poweramp/doherty_amplifier_modified.html[29/10/2010 07:59:31]
Doherty Amplifier
The adaptive bias controlled Doherty amplifier has PAE of 41 % with 33.5 dBm average output power at –30 dBc ACLR, which is an
improvement of 16.65 % and 12.9 % in efficiency and 2.2 dB and 1.4 dB in output power relative to the class AB and conventional
Doherty amplifiers at the same ACLR level. These experimental results clearly demonstrate that the adaptively controlled Doherty
amplifier is the best performing amplifier for the base station power application that requires high efficiency as well as good linearity.
performance
http://www.postech.ac.kr/ee/mmic/poweramp/doherty_amplifier_modified.html[29/10/2010 07:59:31]
Doherty Amplifier
Fig. 1. Structure of the 3-way Doherty amplifier with uneven power drive.
The linearity enhancement of the 2-way Doherty amplifier has been incorporated with the dominant cancellation of the third-order
intermodulation(IM3). The 3-way Doherty amplifier with even power drive has been optimized for the IM3 cancellation only because
of the identical operation of the two peaking amplifiers with equal quiescent bias point. In this work, we have optimized the two
peaking amplifier's gate biases and load networks separately to cancel not only IM3 but also IM5 cancellations.
performance
(a) (b)
Fig. 2. (a) ACLR performances and (b) Drain efficiencies of the Doherty and class AB amplifiers
http://www.postech.ac.kr/ee/mmic/poweramp/doherty_amplifier_modified.html[29/10/2010 07:59:31]
Doherty Amplifier
<TABLE> IMD3 and IMD5 improvements for the two tone signal
(a) (b)
Fig. 3. (a) ACLR performances and (b) Drain efficiencies of the Doherty and class AB amplifiers
WCDMA 4FA
ACLR @ 5 MHz [dBc] ACLR @ 10 MHz [dBc] DE [%]
Class AB -42.86 -44.77 12.3
Doherty -52.5 -53.4 10.2
In the two-tone test, IMD3 has been improved more than 9 dB compared to the class AB amplifier with IMD5 enhancement of 10 dB.
The ACLRs at 5 MHz and 10 MHz offsets are -52.5 dBc, -53.4 dBc, respectively, which are improved by about 10 dB compared to the
class AB amplifier while maintaining drain efficiency.
Fig. 4. Power spectral densities at 42 dBm for the forward-link WCDMA 4-carrier signal
These experimental results show clearly that the proposed Doherty amplifier has a superior linearity than any other general HPA
without using any extra linearization circuits. Therefore, it is expected to be very useful for the medium power HPA that requires
high linearity.
http://www.postech.ac.kr/ee/mmic/poweramp/doherty_amplifier_modified.html[29/10/2010 07:59:31]
Doherty Amplifier
The carrier amplifier can not reach to the saturation state until the peaking amplifier is turn-on due to insufficient drive. Thus, the load
lines represent a slightly elliptical lines as shown in above figure (left). At the input drive above the turn-on voltage of the peaking
amplifier, the carrier amplifier gets into the saturation state, and the load line draws the “L” curve. This state illustrates that the
amplifier has a square-wave current and half-sinusoidal voltage signals. At a high power region, because the load impedances of the
both amplifiers decrease, the load lines of the carrier amplifier move up while maintaining the “L” curves as shown in above figure
(left). Due to the proper load modulation, the current and voltage swings of the peaking amplifier increase in proportion to the power
level and reach to the maximum square-wave current/half-sinusoidal voltage waveforms at the maximum power level. The load lines
of the peaking amplifier represent slightly elliptical lines until the maximum power level, and the load line draws the “L” curve at the
maximum power level as shown inabove figure (right). The peaking amplifier represents the saturation state only at the maximum
power.
performance
http://www.postech.ac.kr/ee/mmic/poweramp/doherty_amplifier_modified.html[29/10/2010 07:59:31]
Doherty Amplifier
Above figures show the measured ACLRs of the saturation Doherty amplifier and the inverse class F amplifier at an offset of 2.5-MHz
for a 1-GHz forward-link WCDMA signal. In comparison with the inverse class F amplifier, the Doherty amplifier delivers a
significantly improved ACLR performance, –29.4 dBc which is an improvement of 8 dB at the average output power of 32 dBm, and
shows the drain efficiencies of the saturation Doherty amplifier and the inverse class F amplifier for the WCDMA signal. The drain
efficiency of the Doherty amplifier is improved over a broad average output power levels and enhanced by 16% at an average output
power of 32 dBm. Moreover, the drain efficiency of the saturation Doherty amplifier has a lot higher than that of the previous Doherty
amplifier.
http://www.postech.ac.kr/ee/mmic/poweramp/doherty_amplifier_modified.html[29/10/2010 07:59:31]
Doherty Amplifier
performance
Above figure shows the measured continuous wave (CW) characteristics of the Doherty amplifier. The amplifier can handle a 51 dBm
of P1dB and has been designed at an average output power of 43 dBm, 8 dB backedoff from the P1dB.
Among the above figures, left one shows the drain efficiencies of the Doherty and class AB amplifiers for the modulation signal. The
drain efficiency of the Doherty amplifier is 27.8% and improved by about 8% at the average output power of 43 dBm. Also, right
one shows the RCE performances of the Doherty and class AB amplifiers. In comparison with the class AB amplifier, the Doherty
amplifier delivers a significantly improved RCE performance, –33.17 dB which is an enhancement of 8.91 dB at the average output
power. This result represents that the gm3 cancellation between the carrier and peaking amplifiers can improve not only out-of-band
error but also in-band error.
http://www.postech.ac.kr/ee/mmic/poweramp/doherty_amplifier_modified.html[29/10/2010 07:59:31]
Doherty Amplifier
Above figures show the signal constellation diagram of the implemented Doherty and class AB amplifiers. In comparison with the
signal constellation diagram of the class AB amplifier, we can recognize the diagram of the Doherty amplifier is clearer, which means
the Doherty amplifier can amplify the signal more linearly. The linearity specification for the modulation signal is –31 dB of RCE.
From the measured results, we can see that the Doherty amplifier can satisfy the linearity specification of the WiMAX applications.
The results show clearly that the Doherty amplifier is very attractive for the 3.5-GHz WiMAX applications since the amplifier can
deliver the excellent linearity with good efficiency without using any special linearization techniques.
(1).
Because the IM3 magnitude and phase of each amplifier are functions of the gate bias and power level, it is difficult to reduce the IM3
over broad power levels for the fixed gate bias. In order to optimize the cancellations over broad average power ranges, we have
selected the proper gate biases of the amplifiers at each input power level through the two-tone test. Fig. 1 shows the measured IMD3
and IMD5 characteristics when the gate biases of the carrier and peaking amplifier are optimized to cancel the harmonics maximally.
Fig. 2 shows the fixed and optimized gate bias conditions of the carrier and peaking amplifiers. When both carrier and peaking
amplifiers are “ON” state at the input power of 22 dBm, the Doherty amplifier start to cancel the IM3. By adjusting the gate biases to
the optimum values for each power level, we could obtain more linear characteristic over the broader power range.
http://www.postech.ac.kr/ee/mmic/poweramp/doherty_amplifier_modified.html[29/10/2010 07:59:31]
Doherty Amplifier
Fig. 2. Fixed and optimized gate biases of the carrier and peaking amplifiers.
To validate the envelope tracking for 802.16d signal, we have used the test bench in Fig. 3, which consists of advanced design system
(ADS) as an I and Q data source, MATLAB as a digital signal processor (DSP) for shaping the gate bias, ESG E4438C as a modulator
for 802.16d RF signal source, and PSG E8267D as a digital-analog converter (DAC) for the shaped gate bias source. Fig. 4 shows the
gate biases, which are shaped based on Fig. 2, of the amplifiers and envelope signal for 802.16d signal at an average output power of
35 dBm. Table I shows the measured results of the class-AB and Doherty with and without envelope tracking. In comparison with the
fixed gate bias Doherty amplifier, the amplifier with the envelope tracking delivers a significantly improved RCE performance of -35.3
dB, which is an enhancement of about 4.3 dB at an average output power of 35 dBm, while the RCE of the Doherty without gate bias
control is improved by about 3.3 dB compared with the class-AB. The PAEs of the Doherty amplifiers with and without gate bias
control are about 30% and enhanced by about 12% compared with class-AB. Although the envelope tracking technique is intended to
extend the IM3 cancellation power range for linearity improvement, the PAE is enhanced slightly because of the lower gate biases for
the carrier and peaking amplifiers compared to the fixed gate bias Doherty amplifier. Fig. 5(a) and (b) show the measured signal
constellation diagram for the fixed gate bias and envelope tracking Doherty amplifiers. In comparison with the signal constellation
diagram of the Doherty amplifier without envelope tracking, we can recognize the diagram of the amplifier with gate bias control is
clearer, which means the proposed Doherty amplifier can amplify the signal more linearly.
Fig. 4. Measured gate biases of the carrier and peaking amplifiers and envelope signal.
http://www.postech.ac.kr/ee/mmic/poweramp/doherty_amplifier_modified.html[29/10/2010 07:59:31]
Doherty Amplifier
Fig. 5. Measured signal constellation diagram of 802.16d at an average output power of 35 dBm: (a) Fixed gate bias. (b) Controlled
gate bias.
Table I. Summary of the measured performance at an average output power of 35 dBm for 802.16d signal
RCE
Gain [dB] PAE [%]
[dB]
Class AB 14.54 18.38 -27.7
Doherty (Fixed bias) 12.65 29.76 -31
Doherty (Envelope
12.46 30.44 -35.3
tracking)
http://www.postech.ac.kr/ee/mmic/poweramp/doherty_amplifier_modified.html[29/10/2010 07:59:31]
Doherty Amplifier
amplifier at an average output power of 34 dBm for the power gain, PAE, and RCE. In the 90 MHz bandwidth, the variations of the
gain and PAE are about 0.35 dB and 2%, respectively, and the linearity specifications are satisfied.
Fig. 1. Gain, PAE, and RCE performances of the Doherty amplifier for 802.16d and 802.16e signals at 2.345 GHz.
Fig. 2. Gain, PAE, and RCE performances of the Doherty amplifier for 802.16d and 802.16e signals across the 90 MHz bandwidth at
an average output power of 34 dBm.
Reference
[1] Y. Yang, J. Yi, Y.Y. Woo, and B. Kim, "Optimum Design for Linearity and Efficiency of Microwave Doherty Amplifier Using a New Load Matching
Technique," Microwave Journal, vol. 44, No. 12, pp. 20-36, Dec. 2001.
[2] B. Kim, Y.Yang, J. Yi, J. Nam, Y. Y. Woo, and J. Cha, "Efficiency Enhancement of Linear Power Amplifier Using load Modulation Technique "
invited paper , ISMOT' 2001, Motreal, Canada, pp 505-508, June 2001
[3] Y.Yang, J. Yi, Y. Y. Woo, and B. Kim, "Experimental Investigation on Efficiency and Linearity of Microwave Doherty Amplifier" IEEE MTT-S Int.
Microwave Sympo. Phoenix Arizona, pp1367- 1370, May 2001
[4] B. Kim, Y. Yang, J. Yi, Y. Y. Woo, and J. Cha, "Optimum Design of Microwave Doherty Amplifier for Linearity and Efficiency," invited paper,
PIERS, Singapore, Jan., 2003.
[5] Y. Yang, J. Cha, B. Shin, and B. Kim, "A Fully Matched N-way Doherty Amplifier with Optimized Linearity," IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech.,
Vol. 51, No. 3, pp. 986-993, Mar., 2003.
[6] Y. Yang, J. Cha, B. Shin, and B. Kim, "A Microwave Doherty Amplifier Employing Envelope Tracking Technique for High Efficiency and Linearity,"
IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, Vol. 13, No. 9, Sep. 2003.
[7] J. Cha, Y. Yang, B. Shin, and B. Kim, "An Adaptive Bias Controlled Power Amplifier with a Load-Modulated Combining Scheme for High Efficiency
and Linearity," IEEE MTT-S Int. Microwave Sympo., Philadelphia, Vol. 1, pp. 81-84, June 2003.
[8] J. Cha, J. Kim, B. Kim, J. S. Lee, and S. H. Kim, "Highly Efficient Power Amplifier for CDMA Base Stations Using Doherty Configuration", IEEE
MTT-S Int. Microwave Symp., Fort Worth,Texas, pp. 533 - 536, 6-11 June, 2004.
[9] B. Shin, J. Cha, J. Kim, Y.Y. Woo, J. Yi, and B. Kim, "Linear Power Amplifier based on 3-Way Doherty Amplifier with Predistorter", IEEE MTT-S
Int. Microwave Symp., Fort Worth,Texas, pp. 2027 - 2030, 6-11 June, 2004.
[10] Bumman Kim, "Microwave Doherty Amplifier for High Linearity and Efficiency", invited talk, IEEE MTT-S Int. Microwave Symp. Workshop, Fort
Worth,Texas, June, 2004.
http://www.postech.ac.kr/ee/mmic/poweramp/doherty_amplifier_modified.html[29/10/2010 07:59:31]
Doherty Amplifier
[11] Bumman Kim, Jeonghyeon Cha, Bumjae Shin, Jangheon Kim, and Ildu Kim, "High Power Microwave Doherty Amplifier for Linearity and
Efficiency Enhancements," invited talk, Asia-Pacific Microwave Conference(APMC 2004) , Deli, India, 15-18 Dec., 2004.
[12] Ildu Kim, Jeonghyeon Cha, Sungchul Hong, Jangheon Kim, YoungYun Woo, Cheon seok Park, and Bumman Kim, “Highly Linear Three-Way
Doherty Amplifier with Uneven Power Drive for Repeater System”, IEEE Microwave and Wireless Component Letters, Vol.16, No.4, pp.176-178, Apr.,
2006.
[13] Jangheon Kim, Jeonghyeon Cha, Ildu Kim, and Bumman Kim "Optimum Operation of Asymmetrical-Cells-Based Linear Doherty Power Amplifiers-
Uneven Power Drive and Power Matching," IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech., Vol. 53, No. 5, pp. 1802 - 1809, May, 2005.
[14] Ildu Kim, Jangheon Kim, Jeonghyeon Cha, YoungYun Woo, Sungchul Hong, and Bumman Kim, “The linearity and efficiency improvement of 3-
way Doherty amplifier with uneven power drive,” International Technical Conference on Circuits/Systems, Computers and Communications, Jeju, Korea,
pp. 369 - 370, July, 2005.
[15] Jangheon Kim, Jeonghyeon Cha, Ildu Kim, Bumman Kim, Sang Yeon Noh, and Cheon Seok Park, "Advanced Design Methods of Doherty Amplifier
for Wide Bandwidth, High Efficiency Base Station Power Amplifiers," 35th European Microwave Conference, Paris, France, pp. 963 - 966, Oct., 2005.
[16] Bumman Kim, Jangheon Kim, and Jeonghyeon Cha, "The Doherty Power Amplifier Technique for Base Station Application," Invited Keynote
Speech at 2006 IN MMIC, Aveiro, Portugal, Jan. 30, 2006.
http://www.postech.ac.kr/ee/mmic/poweramp/doherty_amplifier_modified.html[29/10/2010 07:59:31]