Berkeley

The ABC’s of PA’s

Prof. Ali M. Niknejad

U.C. Berkeley
Copyright c 2015 by Ali M. Niknejad

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PA Classes
IA (t)

IB (t)
IA,av

IB,av

0.0A
5 10 15

Up to now we have been designing PA’s as linear amplifiers,

also known as Class A. We bias the transistors with enough
DC current to support the load. In practice we may bias it
higher the the load in order to reduce the amount of
distortion, which is application dependent.
While counterintiuitive, it’s possible to actually bias the
transistor so that it’s on only half of the time, and yet
preserve the linearity of the amplifier. This is known as a
Class B amplifier, which a conduction angle of 180◦ , in
contrast to a Class A amplifier that has a conduction angle of
360◦ . Lower than 180◦ is known as Class C.
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Class B PA’s

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Class B

+
vin vbias VCC
−

The above circuit utilizes two transistors. Each device only

delivers a half sinusoid pulse and the full sinusoid is recovered
by phase inversion through the transformer.
The base and collector bias voltages come from the
transformer center tap. The base (or gate) is biased at the
edge of conduction (threshold).

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Class B Waveforms

ic (t) vc (t)

VCC

p(t)

0V
Since the voltage at the load is ideally a perfect sinusoid, the
voltage on the collectors is likewise sinusoidal.
The power dissipated by each transistor is thus the product of
a sine and a half sine as shown above.

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Class B Efficiency

The average current drawn by each transistor is given by

Z T Z T /2 Z π
1 Ip Ip Ip
IQ = ic (t)dt = sin ωtdt = sin θdθ =
T 0 T 0 2π 0 π

Where Ip is the peak voltage drawn from the supply.

The peak current drawn from the supply is just the load
current swing reflected to the collector, Ip = io × n.
  
1 Ip vo
η=
2 2IQ VCC

Note that the total DC current draw is twice IQ since both

devices draw current from the supply.

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Class B Efficiency (cont)

Since the collector voltage swing can be as large as VCC

(similar to an inductively loaded Class A), the efficiency is
bounded by    
1 Ip 1 Ip
η≤ =
2 2IQ 4 IQ
π
η ≤ ≈ 78%
4
This is a big improvement over the peak efficiency of Class A.
Note that the average current naturally scales with output
power, and so efficiency drops more gracefully as we back-off
from peak power.

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Efficiency versus Back-Off

η(V )
ssB 50%
cla
s A
clas

VCC

The efficiency drops linearly as we back-off from the peak

output voltage
where vc is the collector voltage swing, which is just n times
smaller than the load voltage, vc = vo /n.

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Tuned Class B

VCC

RF C
C∞
vo

vin RL

vbias

A tuned Class B amplifier works with a single devices by

sending half sinusoid current pulses to the load. The device is
biased at the edge of conduction.
The load voltage is sinusoidal because a high Q RLC tank
shunts harmonics to ground.

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Class B Tank

In a single transistor version, the “minus” pulse is in fact

delivered by the RLC tank. The Q factor of the tank needs to
be large enough to do this. This is analogous to pushing
someone on a swing. You only need to push in one direction,
and the reactive energy stored will swing the person back in
the reverse direction.
The average current drawn from the supply is the same as
before, IQ = Ip /π. The harmonic current delivered to the load
is given by Fourier analysis of the half pulse
Z π Z π
2 1 1 − cos 2θ
Iω1 = Ip sin θ sin θdθ = Ip dθ
2π 0 π 0 2
1π Ip
= Ip =
π2 2

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Class B Waveforms

ic (t) vc (t)

VCC

0V
We see that the transistor is cut-off when the collector voltage
swings above VCC . Thus, the power dissipated during this
first half cycle is zero.
During the second cycle, the peak current occurs when the
collector voltage reaches zero.
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Class B Efficiency (again)

The efficiency is therefore the same

1 Iω1 vc 1π π
η= ≤ =
2 IQ VCC 22 4

The DC power drawn from the supply is proportional to the

output voltage
VCC Ip
Pdc = IQ VCC =
π
vc nvo
Ip = =
Ropt Ropt
The power loss in the transistor is given by
Z π
1
pt (t) = Ip sin θ(VCC − vc sin θ)dθ
2π 0

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Transistor Power Loss

Integrating the above expression

π
VCC Ip vc
pt (t) = (− cos θ − 2π
2π 0 Ip
 
1 vc Ip
= 2VCC Ip − π
2π 2
Ip vc Ip
= VCC −
π 4
vc Iω1
= IQ · VCC −
2
= Pdc − PL

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Class B Power Capacity

Recall the definition for PC

Pout
PC =
Vmax Imax
Vmax = 2VCC
Imax = Iout
Note that the output power is related to the fundamental
coefficient of a half sine wave, or 1/2 the peak

1 Iout
Pout = VCC
2 2
1 Iout
2 VCC 2
PC = = 0.125
2VCC Iout
Same as Class A
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Dynamic PA

Supply DC-DC converter

Envelope
Cm
vo

vin Lm R0

Dynamic Bias

Envelope tracking supply and dynamic class-A

Efficiency always close to peak efficiency of amplifier (say
30%) regardless of PAR
Need a very fast DC-DC converter

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Class C PA’s

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Conduction Angle

Often amplifiers are characterized by their conduction angle,

or the amount of time the collector current flows during a
cycle.
Class A amplifiers have 360◦ conduction angle, since the DC
current is always flowing through the device.
Class B amplifiers, though, have 180◦ conduction angle, since
they conduct half sinusoidal pulses.
In practice most Class B amplifiers are implemented as Class
AB amplifiers, as a trickle current is allowed to flow through
the main device to avoid cutting off the device during the
amplifier operation.

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Reducing the Conduction Angle

ic (t) vc (t) ic (t)

vc (t)

The most optimal waveform is shown above, where a current

pulse is delivered to the load during the collector voltage
minimum (ideally zero)
As the pulse is made sharper and sharper, the efficiency
improves. To deliver the same power, though, the pulse must
be taller and taller as it’s made more narrow. In fact, in the
limit the current spike approaches a delta function.

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Class C

VCC

RF C
C∞
vo

vin RL

Vbias < Vthresh

Class C amplifiers are a wide family of amplifiers with

conduction angle less than 180◦ . One way to achieve this is to
bias a transistor below threshold and allow the input voltage
to turn on the device for a small fraction of the cycle.

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Class C Linearity
Q

010
011 001

100 000 I 2 + Q 2 = A2
I

101 111
110

The Class C amplifier is very non-linear, and it is only

appropriate for applications where the modulation is constant
envelope. For instance, FM uses a constant amplitude carrier
and only modulates the frequency to convey information.
Likewise, any digital modulation scheme with a constellation
on a circle is constant envelope

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Polar Modulation

A(t) C∞ B(t) cos (ωt + φ(t))

A0 cos (ωt + φ(t)) RL

Vbias < Vthresh

While the amplifier is a non-linear function of the input

amplitude, the Class C amplifier can be made to act fairly
linearly to the collector voltage.
By driving the amplifier into “saturation” in each cycle, e.g.
with a large enough swing to rail the supplies, then the output
power is related to the voltage supply. Collector modulation
then uses the power supply to introduce amplitude
modulation into the carrier.

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Class C Approximate Analysis

IDD

2y IDQ

Assume current pulses are sine wave tips, conduction angle is

2y  
−1 IDQ
IDD cos y = IDQ y = cos
 IDD
−IDQ + IDD sin θ IDD cos θ ≥ IDQ
iD (θ) =
0 otherwise
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Class C Average Current

To make the integral easy to calculate, change variables to

the range of y to 0.
IDC from supply:
Z 2π
1 y
Z
1
IDC = iD (θ)dθ = (IDD cos θ0 − IDQ )dθ0
2π 0 π 0
1
IDC = (IDD sin y − IDQ y )
π
IDD
IDC = (sin y − y cos y )
π

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Class C Analysis (cont)
Output voltage is: VOM = Fund{−iD (θ)RL }
Since iD is an odd function, the Fourier series will only yield
sine terms
−2RL 2π 2RL y
Z Z
VOM = iD (θ) sin θdθ = (IDD cos θ−IDQ ) cos θdθ
2π 0 π 0
2RL IDD y IDD sin 2y
VOM = ( + − IDQ sin y )
π 2 4
IDD RL
VOM = (2y − sin 2y )
2π
Note: IDQ sin y = IDD cos y sin y = IDD
2 sin 2y
DC power from prev page:
PDC = IDC VCC = IDDπVCC (sin y cos y )
Assuming that max swing ∼ VCC :
IDD RL
VOM ≈ VCC = (2y − sin 2y )
2π
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Class C Efficiency

2
2VCC sin y − y cos y
PDC ≈
RL 2y − sin 2y
2
VCC
Power to load (assuming VCC swing): PL = 2RL
Ideal Efficiency:

PL 1 2y − sin 2y
η= =
PDC 4 sin y − y cos y
lim η(y ) = 100% (ideal class C)
y →0
η(π) = 50% (tuned-circuit Class A)
η(π/2) = 78.5% (single-ended Class B)
For small conduction angle current pulses approach
delta-function.
Many practical issues make Class C difficult to design.
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Power Capacity of Class C

0.4

Vdrain,max = 2VCC
0.3
Power Capability

Class B Class A ID,max = IDD − IDQ

0.2

= IDD (1 − cos y )
0.1
Po
PC =
2VCC IDD (1 − cos y )
0.0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
1 2y − sin 2y
Conduction Angle =
4π 1 − cos y
The power capacity of Class C is low at low conduction
angles. Peak is Class AB.

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