RECTANGULARLY DRIVEN CLASS-A HARMONIC-CONTROL AMPLIFIER

A rectangularly driven class-A harmonic-control amplifier (rHCA) is st udied, which combines the advantage of high device drain efficiency (e ta(D)) of a switched-type amplifier with the advantage of high gain (G ) of class-A operation, thus maximizing its power-added efficiency (PA E). In this rHCA, harmonics are controlled such that drain-to-source v oltage becomes half-sinusoidal. This reduces the necessary supply volt age without degrading output power. In comparison with a class-F ampli fier using the same transistor, the realization of,such an rHCA has de monstrated 0.4-dE larger output power, 3.8-dB increased gain, 4% highe r PAE, and 22% lower drain supply voltage at 1.62 GHz.