This article reviews the state-of-the-art millimeter-wave (mm-wave) power amplifiers (PAs), focusing on broadband design techniques. An overview of the main solid-state technologies is provided, including Si, gallium arsenide (GaAs), GaN, and other III-V materials, and both field-effect and bipolar transistors. The most popular broadband design techniques are introduced, before critically comparing through the most relevant design examples found in the scientific literature. Given the wide breadth of applications that are foreseen to exploit the mm-wave spectrum, this contribution will represent a valuable guide for designers who need a single reference before adventuring in the challenging task of the mm-wave PA design.

This paper presents the design and characterization of a load modulated balanced amplifier for telecom base station applications adopting a novel mode of operation. The theory of operation is described explaining the main differences compared to Doherty amplifiers, in particular the RF bandwidth advantages and, on the other hand, the intrinsic nonlinear behavior. The specific design strategy that adopts prematching for back-off broadband matching is explained in detail. A prototype, based on 25-W GaN packaged devices, has been fabricated and measured with single tone CW and modulated signal stimulus. For CW conditions, on the 1.7-2.5-GHz band, the peak output power is between 63 and 78 W, with power added efficiency higher than 48%, 43%, and 39% at saturation, 6- and 8-dB output power back-off, respectively. With a modulated signal for Long Term Evolution the amplifier provides an average output power of around 10 W, with efficiency higher than 40%, and can be linearized by adopting a low complexity predistorter. If compared to previously published power amplifiers targeting similar power and bandwidth, the measurement shows very good performance, demonstrating the potential of this novel technique in the field of efficiency enhanced transmitters.

This paper presents a novel technique for the design of broadband Doherty power amplifiers (DPAs), supported by a simplified approach for the initial bandwidth estimation that requires linear simulations only. The equivalent impedance of the Doherty inverter is determined by the value of the output capacitance of the power device, and the Doherty combiner is designed following this initial choice and using a microstrip network. A GaN-based single-input DPA designed adopting this method exhibits, on a state-of-the-art bandwidth of 87% (1.5-3.8 GHz), a measured output power of around 20 W with 6 dB back-off efficiency between 33% and 55%, with a gain higher than 10 dB. System-level measurements prove the linearizability of the designed Doherty amplifier when a modulated signal is applied.

The load modulated balanced amplifier (LMBA) technique uses a control signal, injected at the output coupler, to modulate the impedance of the balanced amplifier transistors. A 14.1-W X-band LMBA is reported, integrating for the first time the balanced, driver, and control signal amplifiers in a single microwave monolithic integrated circuit. Load modulation and bias settings are used to demonstrate that high circuit efficiency can be achieved as the LMBA is adjusted for operation in three RF-power regimes; 1.5, 5.6, and 14.1 W for a constant input power of 22 dBm. Power-added efficiencies above 37% are observed in all power regimes from 8 to 9 GHz under saturated conditions.

This paper presents the theoretical analysis of phase distortion (AM/PM) mechanisms in Gallium Nitride (GaN) Doherty power amplifiers (DPAs) and a novel approach to optimize the tradeoff between linearity and efficiency. In particular, it is demonstrated how it is possible to mitigate the AM/PM by designing a suitable mismatch at the input of the active devices, based on the identification of constant AM/PM and gain contour circles. The proposed theory is experimentally confirmed by source- and load-pull measurements and further validated through the design and realization of a 7 GHz 10W DPA based on GaN monolithic technology.

This article presents an orthogonal load-modulated balanced amplifier designed to mitigate the effects of the load mismatch on the power-added efficiency and output power of the amplifier. This is achieved by electronically adjusting the ratio between the two input signals of the power amplifier (PA) (in phase and amplitude) and the reactive termination at the output nominally isolated port. The mode of operation of the PA is described using a theoretical analysis that highlights the role of the different tuning parameters and is confirmed by simulations using a simplified transistor model. The design and characterization under load mismatch of a prototype PA, working in the 1.6-3.2 GHz band are described and the experimental results compared to those of an analogous balanced PA, where it is shown that the orthogonal balanced amplifier is able to increase substantially the mismatch region on which a given target performance is achieved.