Originallypublishedin QST,April 1983.CopyrightO by the ARRL.

Reproduced
by permission

Gorrcsp@ndcncc
Technnoel
T h e o u b l i s h e r so f O S T a s s u l r | en o r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r s t a l e m e n t sm a d e h e r e i nb y c o r r e s p o n d e n t s .

ON SOLID-STATE PA MATCHING
NETWORXS
I I would like to pass along some observa-
t i o n s I ' r ' e m a d e w h i c h a r e o f i n t e r e s tt o b u i l d e r s
o f s o l i d - s t a t eC l a s s C h f t r a n s m i t t e r s . ' I h a v c
found that the use of such matching networks
as the commonly recommendedL and T,t as
well as any other network with an inductor or
s e r i e sL C a s t h e i n p u t e l e m e n t , ' w i l l i n e v i t a b l y
r c s u l t i n i n r p r o p e rc i r c u i t o p e r a t i o n . T h e c i r c u i t
will exhibit poor collector efficiency, spurious
output, or a high transistor failure rate, unless
o n e o f t h e s ec o n d i t i o n si s m e t : ( l ) t h e o u t p u t
t r a n s i s t o r i s v e r y r u g g e d ( i n w h i c h c a s ei t w o n ' t
fail, but the othcr conditions will rentain);
( 2 ) t h e t r a n s i s t o r o u t p u t c a p a c i t a n c ei s 1 0 0 p F
o r h i g h e r ; ( 3 ) a Z e n e r d i o d e i s c o n n e c t e da c r o s s
t h e t r a n s i s t o r( m o r e a b o u t t h i s l a t c r ) ;o r ( 4 ) t h e
network is modified in a nranner I will
describe.
L e t ' s s c ew h a t c a u s e st h e p r o b l e m . A l t h o u g h
there is an optimum resistive inrpedance
"see" (approximately
for a transistor to
v c c 2 / 2 P c ) , ' t h e t r a n s i s t o r d o e s n o t p r e s e n tt h i s
o r a n y o t h e r i m p e d a n c e .R a t h e r , i t a c t s m u c h
as a simple on-off switch. At the instant the
transistor is turned off, current flowing
through the rf choke is dumped into the circuit
e l e m e n t s . T h e d o m i n a n t c i r c u i t p r e s e n t e dt o
this current is parallel resonant,with L being
the network input inductor and C the transistor
p a r t i c u l a r t r a n s i s t o r w a s e x c e p t i o n a l l yr u g g e d
- several devices were destroyed in the at-
tempt. Although this condition could be
d e t e c t e dw i t h a w a v e m e t e rc o u p l e d l o o s c l y t o
the collector circuit, it can only be observed
with the aid of a wide-bandwidth scope.The
instrument used to obtain these photos has a
2 , s 0 - M H zb a n d w i d t h .
A photo of the waveforrn at the load is
shown in Fig. 28. Distortion nray be reduccd
b y f i l t e r i n g , b u t - a s s u m i n gt h e t r a n s i s t o r i s
n o t d e s t r o y e d- c o l l e c t o re f f i c i e n c yw i l l b e l e s s
t h a n o p t i m u m . T y p i c a l e f f i c i e n c yw i l l b e o n t h e
o r d e r o f 4 0 t o 6 0 p e r c e n t ,r a t h e r t h a n t h e 7 0 t o o5
80 percent obtained from a wcll-dcsigned
amplifier stage.
A n a d v a n c e d c i r c u i t - a n a l y s i sc o m p u t e r p r o -
g r a n l w a s u s e d t o i n v e s t i g a t et h e c i r c u i t o f F i g . F i g . 3- W h e nt h e c i r c u i to f F i g . I w a s a n a -
I, assurningpcrfect inductors, capacitors, l y z e do n a c o m p u t e r ,l h e w a v e f o r m ss h o w n
w e r ep r e d i c t e dT. h es o l i dl i n ei n d i c a t e sh o w
source,load and a good modcl of the 2N3866
t h e c o m o u l e re x o e c t e dt h e w a v e f o r ma t t h e
t r a n s i s t o r .T h e g r a p h i c a l r e s u l t so f t h i s a n a l y s i s c o l l e c t o r t ol o o k .E x p e c t e d
o u t p u tw a v e { o r mi s
a r e s h o w n i n F i g . 3 . B e c a u s eo f t h e u s e o f s h o w nb y t h e d o t t e dl i n e .
perfect components, frequcncy and anrplitude
of the simulated waveform vary slightly front
the real waveforms shown in Fig. 2. The strik- 'is
i n g s i m i l a r i t y t o F i g . 2 a n d t h e p r e s e n c eo f r i n g - u s u a l s e n s e ,n o r i t d u c t o s t r a y c a p a c i t a n c eo I
ing in the simulation verify that the inductance or poor circuit layout. Il is inherent t
p h e n o m e n o ni s n o l a s p u r i o u so s c i l l a t i o ni n t h e in the use of this type of network!
A c a p a c i t o r c o n n c c t e df r o n t t h e c o l l e c t o r t o
)
ground or, preferably, from collector to emit-
ter, will solve the problem if it approximately
F i g . 2 - P h o t o so f t h e a c t u a l w a v e f o r m s resonates with the input inductor at t}te I

o u t p u t c a p a c i t a n c e ,C o . C o i s i n p a r a l l e l w i t h
"rings"
s t r a y c i r c u i t c a p a c i t a n c e .T h i s c i r c u i t
at its resonant frequency, which is not
n e c e s s a r i l yr e l a t e d t o t h e o p e r a t i n g f r e q u e n c y .
Fig. I shows the schematic of a typical
4 0 - m e t e r ,2 - w a t t - o u t p u t a m p l i f i e r . F i g . 2 A i s a
p h o t o o f t h e o s c i l l o s c o p ew a v e f o r m a t t h e c o l -
l e c t o r o f Q l . T h e p r e s e n c eo f 7 0 - v o l t , 5 0 - M H z
o b t a i n e dw i t h t h e a m p l i fi e r .O p e r a t i o nw a s o p e r a t i n g f r e q u e n c y .T h e c a p a c i t o r w i l l r e d u c e I
o b s e r v e dw i t h a h i g h - s p e eods c i l l o s c o p eA. t A ,
c o l l e c t o r - v o l t a g es w i n g t o l e s s t h a n 3 0 v o l t s I
c o l l e c t o rw a v e f o r m ; a tB , w a v e f o r ma t l h e o u t ' with a l2-volt supply. The cffect on the Q of
out.
c o m m o n n e t w o r k s w i l l b e n e g l i g i b l ea n d o n l y I
s l i g h t r e a d j u s t m e n to f t h e v a r i a b l e c a p a c i t o r ( s ) t
w i l l r e s t o r et h e c o r r e c t m a t c h .
A Z e n e r d i o d e c o n n e c t e da c r o s st h e c o l l e c t o r a
will sometimes solv'e the problem, but not ll

ringing at the collector may be readily seen.I b e c a u s eo f Z e n e r a c t i o n ! A t 1 ' p i c a l 3 3 - v o l t , f

u ' a s a b l e t o o b t a i n t h i s p i c t u r e o n l y b e c a u s et h e l - w a t t Z e n e r d i o d e h a s a c a p a c i t a n c eo f 2 0 0 t o
800 pF, dependingon the amount of reverse l
b i a s . T h i s i s g e n e r a l l ys u f f i c i e n t t o p r e v e n r t h e
F i g .1 - S c h e m a l i cd i a g r a mo f t h e 7 ' M H z
ring in the first place. ,
T h i s l e t t e r h a s b e e n n e c e s s a r i l yb r i c f b u t I
C l a s sC a m p l i fi e r u s e dt o e x a m i n et h e o s c i l l a -
t i o np r o b l e m . h o p e i t w i l l e n a b l et h e r e a d e rt o t a k e a d v a n t a g e
o f t h e s em a t c h i n g n e t w o r k s s i t h o u t w o n d e r i n g
- as I did for a long time - $hy sotttctimes
7 MHI t h e y w o r k a n d s o m e t i m e st h e y d o n ' t . - R o l
L NETWORK
o s* -l,lll l4/. Lewallen, W7EL, 5470 S.lY. 152 Ave.,
Beaverton. OR 97005
0l
2N3866
Footnotes
:i: r
' S t r i c t l ys p e a k i n gt,h e C l a s sC a m p l i f i e r su s e d b y
,-7? amateursmay be better describedas ClassD, as
t h e y a r e t y p i c a l l yd r i v e n t o s a ( u r a t i o nl.n f a c t ,
t h i s i s t h e r e a s o nf o r t h e p r o b l e n dr c s c r i b ehde r e .
H o w e v e rs, u c ho p e r a t i o n d o e sa l l o * h i g hc o l l e c t o r
o I ico+carnrv e f f i c i e n c yF. o r a m o r e d e t a i l c dd i s c u s s i oonf t h i s
+tzv r-l--7 (s€E TEXT) " C l a s sE - A N e *
t o o i c . s e eS o k a la n d S o k a l ,
C l a s s o f H i g h - E f f i c i e n c yT u n c d S i n g l e - E n d e d
E x c E P T A S I N D I C A T E 0O , ECIMAL Switching Power Amplifiers," IEEE Journal o/
V A L U E SO F C A P A C I T A N C E ARE Solid-Stare Circairs,Vol. SC-10,No. 3, June' 1975.
I t l M I c R o F A R A o(S
rF); OTHERS 'Hay*ard and DcNla*', Solid State Design/or the
( P F
ARE lN PlcoFARA0s OR ,,F); R a d i oA m a t e u r ,A R R L , 1 9 7 7p, p . 5 2 - - r l
RESTSTA CES ARE lN OAyS, ' T h eR a d i oA m o r e u r ' H s a n d b o o k , 5 4 lE h d i t i o n ,1 9 7 7 '
TTIOOO.HTIOOOOOO A R R L ,p . l 6 l .
' H a y * a r d a n d D e N l a wp, . 2 4 .

34 o5T'