Qorvo launches dual-transistor GaN-on-SiC asymmetric Doherty amplifier module for macro base-stations

Qorvo Inc of Greensboro, NC, USA (which provides core technologies and RF solutions for mobile, infrastructure and defense applications) has launched an asymmetric Doherty amplifier enabling ultra-high levels of power efficiency in the design of wireless base-station equipment. The gallium nitride on silicon carbide (GaN-on-SiC) amplifier features two transistors in a single package to maximize linearity, efficiency and gain, and ultimately reduce operating costs.

“GaN devices can handle more power than other high-frequency technologies like GaAs and InP, with better frequency performance characteristics than other power technologies like LDMOS,” comments Eric Higham, service director at market research firm Strategy Analytics.

“Today’s telecommunications infrastructure design is all about achieving power efficiencies that reduce costs,” notes Roger Hall, Qorvo’s general manager, High Performance Solutions. “Our customers tell us that the new GaN-on-SiC QPD2731 transistor achieves these goals as operators bring more capabilities online.”

Designers are increasingly moving to GaN-on-SiC in order to realize significant improvements in performance, linearity and efficiency for wireless base stations compared with LDMOS and GaN-on-Si, which have poor thermal characteristics, says Qorvo. The QPD2731 addresses this shift with pre-matched, discrete GaN-on-SiC high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs). Available now for sampling in a 4-lead, earless, ceramic flange NI780 package, the new amplifier is claimed to provide the highest performance available in its operating frequency range of 2.5-2.7GHz. Doherty drain efficiency is 60% (47.5dBm), Doherty gain is 16.0dB, and peak Doherty output power is 55.0dBm (316W).

The QPD2731 can be linearized by standard, commercially available, third-party digital pre-distortion (DPD) systems.