Simultaneous load-pull of intermodulation and output power under two-tone excitation for accurate SSPA´s design

Author

Ghannouchi, Fadhel M. ; Guoxiang Zhao ; Beauregard, F.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Ecole Polytech., Montreal, Que.

Volume

42

Issue

6

fYear

1994

fDate

6/1/1994 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

929

Lastpage

934

Abstract

The simultaneous measurements of the third-order intermodulation and output power under two-tone excitation have been implemented on a MESFET operated in large-signal mode for load impedances spanning quasi-entirely the Smith chart, using a six-port reflectometer with variable test port impedance. An experimental comparison between single-tone and two-tone output power and power-added efficiency was performed. The experimental results show that the load-pull of the output power capability and power-added efficiency by a two-tone test are more accurate than the single-tone characterization for multi-carrier Solid State Power Amplifiers (SSPA´s) design

Keywords

electric distortion measurement; intermodulation; microwave amplifiers; microwave reflectometry; power amplifiers; power measurement; solid-state microwave circuits; MESFET; Smith chart; large-signal mode; load impedances; multi-carrier solid state power amplifiers; output power; power-added efficiency; six-port reflectometer; third-order intermodulation; two-tone excitation; variable test port impedance; Circuit testing; Fixtures; Impedance; Microwave amplifiers; Power amplifiers; Power generation; Power measurement; Reflection; System testing; Tuners;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9480

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/22.293560

Filename

293560