Radio frequency power amplifier for lossless power combining

Abstract

An amplifier device (40) includes at least one amplifier (42) having an output. A plurality of conductors (48, 50, 52) are coupled to the output in parallel with each other. The plurality of conductors (48, 50, 52) each has an electrical length that corresponds to a quarter wavelength of a signal amplified by the amplifier. The electrical length of the conductors (48, 50, 52) allows for any one of them to be selectively shorted so that the shorted conductor appears as an open circuit relative to the output of the amplifier (42) and has no effect on the operation of the amplifier device under such circumstances. The disclosed amplifier configuration allows for daisy chain connections for stacking amplifiers to increase amplification in an effectively lossless manner.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.