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GaN in Switched-Mode Power Amplifiers

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Gallium Nitride-enabled High Frequency and High Efficiency Power Conversion

Part of the book series: Integrated Circuits and Systems ((ICIR))

Abstract

Radio-frequency (rf) power is important to a wide range of applications, including radio transmitters, plasma generation, medical imagers (e.g., MRI), power converters, and wireless power transfer (WPT) among myriad other applications. Advances in power semiconductor devices, magnetics, and circuit design are opening the door to much more efficient generation and delivery of power at radio frequencies. This chapter presents an overview of switched-mode power amplifiers – or radio-frequency inverters – encompassing their design, control, and construction. We focus on the high-frequency (HF, 3–30 MHz) and very-high-frequency (VHF, 30–300 MHz) ranges. We explore key aspects of rf power conversion, including power circuit architecture and design, selection and efficient drive of power devices at rf, and control methods for modulating power and managing load variations. We also address circuit construction, including the design and application of passive components at radio frequencies. Magnetics for power applications at HF and VHF pose a special challenge when compactness and high efficiency are desired. We explore the design of air-core and magnetic-core magnetics for this frequency range, including winding design, core material evaluation and selection, and application of magnetic cores.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Absolute delays of gate-drive signals is itself not an issue, unless one seeks to actively adjust switch timing under feedback control.

  2. 2.

    The split-winding transformer “push-pull” version of the Class D eliminates the level-shifting challenge, but transformer leakage makes this variant undesirable at high frequencies.

  3. 3.

    It is possible to build a switched-mode system whose output responds to variations in rf input amplitude [32], but such systems use controls to indirectly mimic that characteristic of linear power amplifers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    David J. Perreault

  2. Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA

    Charles R. Sullivan

  3. Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Juan M. Rivas

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  1. David J. Perreault
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  2. Charles R. Sullivan
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Correspondence to David J. Perreault .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Information Engineering, University of Padova - DEI, Padova, Padova, Italy

    Gaudenzio Meneghesso

  2. Department of Information Engineering, University of Padova - DEI, Padova, Padova, Italy

    Matteo Meneghini

  3. Department of Information Engineering, University of Padova - DEI, Padova, Padova, Italy

    Enrico Zanoni

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Perreault, D.J., Sullivan, C.R., Rivas, J.M. (2018). GaN in Switched-Mode Power Amplifiers. In: Meneghesso, G., Meneghini, M., Zanoni, E. (eds) Gallium Nitride-enabled High Frequency and High Efficiency Power Conversion. Integrated Circuits and Systems. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77994-2_8

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