ZTE

ZTE Communications ›› 2011, Vol. 9 ›› Issue (2): 8-11.

• Special Topic • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Broadband Power Amplifiers for Unified Base Stations

Pengcheng Jia   

  1. ZTE USA
  • Online:2011-06-25 Published:2011-06-25
  • About author:Pengcheng Jia received his B.S. degree in electronics science and information systems from Nankai University, Tianjin, in 1995. He received his M.S. degree in electronic engineering from Tsinghua University, Beijing, in 1998, and his Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 2002. His research on UCSB concerns the development of waveguide-based broadband high power spatial power combiner.

    Dr. Jia joined ZTE as a micorwave system architect in December 2010. Prior to working with ZTE, Dr. Jia was the CTO of CAP Wireless at Newbury Park, California. He has worked with many microwave and mmwave systems, specifically focusing on broadband power amplifier design. He has pioneered coaxial waveguide-based spatial power combining technology and has successfully developed 2 G to 20 G and 20 G to 40 G ultra broadband power amplifier platforms. He has also developed many broadband power amplifiers using LDMOS and GaN transistors. Dr. Jia is a senior member of IEEE.

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Abstract: A broadband power amplifier is required to cover the full range of cellular frequency band—from 700 MHz to 2600 MHz—in a base station that supports multiple frequency bands simultaneously. Conventional laterally diffused metal oxide semiconductor (LDMOS) transistors support narrow band applications up to 3 GHz. However, they cannot operate beyond 1 GHz in broadband applications. GaN transistors have much higher power density and operational frequency compared with LDMOS. Therefore, they are ideal for broadband amplifiers that support multiple bands. Theories for designing broadband amplifiers are introduced in this article, and a 500-2500 MHz 60 W GaN amplifier is discussed.

Key words: broadband power amplifier, GaN, LDMOS