Gate Pulsing as a Transient Ringing Reduction Method for Multi-Level Supply Modulators

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
Titel: Gate Pulsing as a Transient Ringing Reduction Method for Multi-Level Supply Modulators
Autoren: Nogales, Connor, Popovic, Zoya, Lasser, Gregor, 1983
Quelle: IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics. 38(8):9358-9361
Schlagwörter: Transistors, Modulation, Voltage measurement, Resistance, Switches, Ringing, Multi-Level Converter, Power Amplifier, Logic gates, Supply Modulation, Envelope tracking, Optimization
Beschreibung: This letter demonstrates a gate pulsing technique to reduce the ringing in multi-level dynamic voltage supplies used for modulating the drain bias of GaN radio-frequency power amplifiers (RFPAs). Supply modulation can improve overall average efficiency when the RFPA is amplifying signals with varying envelopes. Multi-level discrete supply modulators (SMs) are used for high instantaneous bandwidth signals when continuous modulators become inefficient. These SMs provide several voltage levels to the RFPA using transistor switches. By pulsing the gate drive of switches on and off quickly before ultimately turning them on, the switches undergo an intermediate lossy state which reduces the ringing. The pulse settings can be individually adjusted for different voltage level transitions and loads. Gate pulsing is compared to conventional ringing reduction techniques such as varying the fixed series gate resistance, and dead-time optimization. Gate pulsing experimental results with a 4-level SM and 8 MHz 64-QAM signal show a significant improvement in ringing over dead-time optimization with only a 0.9% points drop in efficiency.
Dateibeschreibung: electronic
Zugangs-URL: https://research.chalmers.se/publication/536067
https://research.chalmers.se/publication/536067/file/536067_Fulltext.pdf
Datenbank: SwePub
Beschreibung
Abstract:This letter demonstrates a gate pulsing technique to reduce the ringing in multi-level dynamic voltage supplies used for modulating the drain bias of GaN radio-frequency power amplifiers (RFPAs). Supply modulation can improve overall average efficiency when the RFPA is amplifying signals with varying envelopes. Multi-level discrete supply modulators (SMs) are used for high instantaneous bandwidth signals when continuous modulators become inefficient. These SMs provide several voltage levels to the RFPA using transistor switches. By pulsing the gate drive of switches on and off quickly before ultimately turning them on, the switches undergo an intermediate lossy state which reduces the ringing. The pulse settings can be individually adjusted for different voltage level transitions and loads. Gate pulsing is compared to conventional ringing reduction techniques such as varying the fixed series gate resistance, and dead-time optimization. Gate pulsing experimental results with a 4-level SM and 8 MHz 64-QAM signal show a significant improvement in ringing over dead-time optimization with only a 0.9% points drop in efficiency.
ISSN:08858993
19410107
DOI:10.1109/TPEL.2023.3278210