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Published in IET Microwaves, Antennas & Propagation

Received on 3rd December 2007
Revised on 8th June 2008
doi: 10.1049/iet-map.2007.0307

ISSN 1751-8725

Analysis and design of high-efficiency variable

conduction angle Doherty amplifier
S. Bousnina†
Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal, Poly-Grames Research Center, Montréal, Canada
†S. Bousnina is currently a Senior RF Design Engineer at Tyco Electronics, Torrance, CA
E-mail: sami.bousnina@polymtl.ca

Abstract: The Doherty amplifier was first proposed to improve the efficiency under output power back-off using the
technique of load-line modulation of a ‘carrier’ amplifier through a ‘peak’ amplifier. By varying input bias of the peak
amplifier along with load of the carrier amplifier at low drive levels, different topologies of the Doherty amplifier are
distinguished. An analytical analysis that determines the optimum output performance of these topologies in terms
of output power, efficiency and output power back-off ensuring a near-peak efficiency is developed. The presented
comprehensive analysis considered for variation of conduction angle of the peak amplifier biased class C. New
design equations of the analysed topologies are derived. A realisation at a central frequency of 1.9 GHz using
GaAs field effect transistor (FET) devices of a Doherty amplifier topology is reported. In this topology the carrier
operates (at low drive levels) into load impedance 5/2 times larger than its optimum. Power-added efficiency of
61.8% is measured at P1dB of 25.9 dB m and 33.2% is measured at 9 dB back-off from P1dB .

Vgs-bias-carrier gate bias voltage of the carrier amplifier

Nomenclature Vgs-bias-peak gate bias voltage of the peak amplifier
Gm transconductance of the FET device Vout output voltage in the terminals of the load
Imax maximum drain current of the carrier and RL
peak amplifiers Vp pinch-off voltage of the FET device
Pout instantaneous output power of the Doherty Zc characteristic impedance of the quarter-wave
amplifier transformer
Pout_L_max maximum output power of the Doherty Zpeak impedance presented to the peak amplifier
amplifier topology at the first saturation of
Zcarrier impedance presented to the carrier
the carrier amplifier
amplifier
Pout_max maximum output power of the Doherty
a the transition point where the peak
amplifier topology in the general case
amplifier turns on (equal to the ratio of the
Pout_max_ST maximum output power of the Doherty optimum load Ropt to the impedance of
amplifier in the case of the standard the carrier amplifier Zcarrier at low drive
topology levels)
RL load of the Doherty amplifier h Instantaneous efficiency of the Doherty
Ropt optimum load of the carrier and peak amplifier
amplifiers hmax efficiency of the Doherty amplifier at
Vdmax maximum drain voltage of the carrier and maximum drive level
peak amplifiers u conduction angle of the peak amplifier

416 IET Microw. Antennas Propag., 2009, Vol. 3, Iss. 3, pp. 416– 425
& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2009 doi: 10.1049/iet-map.2007.0307

Authorized licensed use limited to: King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals. Downloaded on April 23,2010 at 16:29:34 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

1 Introduction
The need for high-efficiency and linear microwave power
amplifiers has grown rapidly, especially as mobile and
satellite communication systems have been developed and
expanded [1]. These systems mandate that the amplifier
efficiency be as high as possible in order to extend the
operating time of portable power sources. For acceptable
linearity in handling multi-carrier signals with high
peak-to-average envelope ratios, the amplifier output power
must be backed off from its peak value. This has the
disadvantage of reducing the amplifier efficiency and
increasing energy consumption. Such trade-off between
linearity and efficiency was difficult to solve with
conventional amplifiers. One of the promising techniques
to improve the efficiency under output power back-off is
load-line modulation technique used in the Doherty
amplifier [2, 3].
A simplified block diagram of the Doherty amplifier adopted
in this work is shown in Fig. 1. Amplifier 1 is referred to as the
‘carrier’ amplifier and it is biased class B. Amplifier 2 is referred
to as the ‘peak’ amplifier and it is biased class C. The
input power is divided equally with a quarter-wave delay at
the input of the peak amplifier. The output power from
the two amplifiers is combined with a quarter-wave
impedance transformer (with characteristic impedance Zc).
Thus, the output signals of the two amplifiers are combined
in phase.
The Doherty amplifier could be realised using class B
operating condition for both carrier and peak amplifiers.
However, in this case an additional control circuitry is
required to turn on the peak amplifier only at the required
input power level. Such additional control circuitry
increases the complexity of the implementation and reduces
the overall system efficiency.
Theoretical analysis of the Doherty amplifier is important
for system-level estimation of its capabilities in terms of
output power, efficiency and output power back-off. In
addition, determination of the impedance (Zc) of the
quarter-wave transmission line and the optimum load (RL)
Figure 1 Configuration of the Doherty amplifier without
input drive controller
IET Microw. Antennas Propag., 2009, Vol. 3, Iss. 3, pp. 416– 425
doi: 10.1049/iet-map.2007.0307
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are critical parameters in the circuit design of this amplifier.
Previous realisations of the Doherty amplifier with
promising results in terms of linearity and efficiency were
reported in [4 –15]. Most of the realised topologies of the
Doherty amplifier were designed on the basis of the design
equations reported in [3]. However, these design equations
are derived assuming that both carrier and peak amplifiers
are biased class B and a drive controller is used to turn on
the peak amplifier when the input drive exceeds certain
threshold. Therefore the derived design equations and
theoretical performance of the Doherty amplifier are not
optimum when no drive controller is used and instead, as
done in most of the reported realisations, the peak
amplifier is biased class C.
In this paper, the term topology of the Doherty amplifier is
a synonym to configuration of this amplifier where the peak
amplifier biased class C turns on only at specific level of
input drive. A given topology of the Doherty amplifier is
distinguished from other one by the specific bias of the
peak amplifier and by the specific values of the load RL and
characteristic impedance Zc .
This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the
characteristics of the topologies of the Doherty amplifier.
Variation of the conduction angle of the peak amplifier is
considered in the derivation of these characteristics. The
presented analysis leads to a new estimation for each
topology of the corresponding maximum output power,
maximum efficiency and maximum output power back-off
ensuring a near-peak efficiency. In addition, new design
equations for the determination of the load RL and
characteristic impedance Zc are derived for each topology.
This paper is organised as follows: In Section 2, theoretical
output performance of the Doherty amplifier topologies is
determined and new design equations of theses topologies
are presented. The design and measurement of the realised
Doherty amplifier topology are presented and discussed in
Section 3. Conclusions are given in Section 4.
2 Theoretical analysis of the
Doherty amplifier topologies
The objectives of the analysis presented in this section are the
determination of the optimum output performance of the
Doherty amplifier topologies and the proposal of new
design equations for each topology.
In this paper, the term standard Doherty amplifier
topology refers to the original configuration of this
amplifier reported in [2]. In this configuration, both carrier
and peak amplifiers are biased class B and each of them
contributes equally to the output power at maximum input
drive. In this configuration, a control circuitry is required to
turn on the peak amplifier only at the required input power
level.
417
& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2009
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The parameters a and Zc are defined as follows: Thus

Ropt Ic cri ¼ aImax (3)

a¼ (1)
(Zcarrier )at low drive levels
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi The carrier amplifier is biased class B:
RoptRL
Zc ¼ (2) Vgs-bias-carrier ¼ jVp j (4)
a

2.1 Doherty amplifier topologies without The peak amplifier is biased class C and it turns on when the
input drive controller drain current of the carrier amplifier reaches Ic_cri:

For simplicity purposes, subsequent analysis is based upon Ic cri

class B and class C amplifiers with resistive loads and Vgs-bias-peak ¼ jVp j 
Gm
identical ideal DC characteristics. Ideal filters are
assumingly used at the output of each of the peak and aImax
¼ jVp j  (5)
carrier amplifiers to filter odd and even harmonics when Gm
presenting an open circuit for the fundamental signal.
2.1.2 High input drive levels: At high input drive levels
It is easy to understand the principle of operation of the and as the power delivered by the peak amplifier increases,
Doherty amplifier in its two stages of operation depending the load presented to the carrier amplifier decreases. Since
on the level of the input drive. In the first stage, the drive the peak amplifier is biased class C, the variation of its
level is so low such that the peak amplifier remains off. conduction angle (shown in Fig. 3) has to be considered in
Consequently, only the carrier amplifier amplifies the input the calculation of the performance of the Doherty amplifier
signal. In the second stage, the drive level is high and topologies.
exceeds certain threshold level allowing the peak amplifier
to turn on. As deduced from the analysis reported in [3], As shown in Fig. 3, the drain current of the peak amplifier
the expressions describing the characteristics and is expressed as follows:
performance of the Doherty amplifier are presented in  
Appendix. u
Id-peak ¼ IA cos u 0  cos (6)
2
2.1.1 Low input drive levels: At low input drive levels,
the carrier amplifier operates into a load equal to Ropt/a. with
Fig. 2 shows the load-line and waveform of the drain
current of the carrier amplifier. Ik
IA ¼ (7)
1  cos ðu=2Þ
In Fig. 2, Ic_cri is defined as a critical value of the drain
current of the carrier amplifier when this amplifier reaches From Fourier analysis of the waveform of the drain current of
its first saturation. As illustrated in this figure, the the peak amplifier, the fundamental component is given by
following relation is deduced:
IA
Id-peak-fund ¼ (u  sin u) (8)
Ic cri Ropt 2p
¼ ¼a
Imax Ropt =a

Figure 2 Current and voltage waveforms and load-lines of Figure 3 Waveform and conduction angle of the drain
the carrier amplifier current of the peak amplifier

418 IET Microw. Antennas Propag., 2009, Vol. 3, Iss. 3, pp. 416– 425
& The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2009 doi: 10.1049/iet-map.2007.0307

Authorized licensed use limited to: King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals. Downloaded on April 23,2010 at 16:29:34 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
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As illustrated in Fig. 4 and at maximum input power, the

following relation is deduced:

Ip max ¼ Imax  Ic cri

Using (3), the following relation is deduced:

Ip max ¼ (1  a)Imax (10)

At maximum input power IA is equal to Imax , and Ik is equal

to Ip_max:

u ¼ umax (at maximum input power) (11)

IA ¼ Imax (12)

Ik ¼ Ip max (13)

From (7), (10), (12) and (13), the maximum conduction

angle of the drain current of the peak amplifier can be
Figure 4 Current and voltage waveforms of the carrier (top) determined as a function of a:
and peak (bottom) amplifiers
umax ¼ 2 cos1 (a) (14)

The DC component is given by As shown in Fig. 5 and by (5), the conduction angle of the
peak amplifier is maximised only when this amplifier is
biased closer to the pinch-off voltage.
 
Ik 2 sin (u=2)  u cos (u=2)
Idc-peak ¼ (9) Imax is defined as a function of the maximum drain voltage
2p 1  cos (u=2)
and optimum load as follows:

Fig. 4 shows the voltage and current waveforms and the Vdmax
Imax ¼ (15)
transfer characteristics of the peak and carrier amplifiers. Ropt

Using (10), (13) and (15), the following relation is deduced:

In Fig. 4, Ic_max is defined as the peak value of the drain
current of the carrier amplifier at any high drive level.
Vdmax
Ip_max is defined as the peak value of the drain current of Ik ¼ (1  a) (16)
the peak amplifier at any high drive level. Ropt

Using (8) and (16), the expression of the fundamental current

of the peak amplifier can be written as
 
Vdmax umax  sin umax
Id-peak-fund ¼ (1  a) (17)
2pRopt 1  cos (umax =2)

Using (17) and (43), the impedance presented to the peak

amplifier is given by:

Vdmax pRopt
Zpeak ¼ ¼ (18)
2Id-peak -fund (1  a)[(umax  sin umax )
=(1  cos (umax =2))]

At maximum drive level, the DC current of the carrier

amplifier is given by

Figure 5 Maximum conduction angle of the peak amplifier 2 (Vdmax =2)

Idc-carrier ¼
for different topologies of the Doherty amplifier p Zcarrier

IET Microw. Antennas Propag., 2009, Vol. 3, Iss. 3, pp. 416– 425 419
doi: 10.1049/iet-map.2007.0307 & The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2009
Authorized licensed use limited to: King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals. Downloaded on April 23,2010 at 16:29:34 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.