High-Power Wide-Band RF Amplifiers

The theory and procedures pertinent to the design of wide-band high-power amplifiers and the classical theory of broadband voltage amplifiers is briefly reviewed; the differences between the design constraints for voltage amplifiers and for power amplifiers are pointed out. The requisite changes in analytical models of the amplifier are inferred; an analytical model appropriate to the design of high-power wide-band amplifiers is constructed. The observed characteristics of an amplifier are presented and compared with competitive devices. Differences between wide-band voltage amplifiers and wide-band power amplifiers are inferred directly from voltage and power gain; a procedure for designing efficient wide-band power amplifiers is presented; and application of this procedure is shown to be adequate for the design of VHF amplifiers providing average power output of 1 kW over a 50 percent bandwidth with overall efficiency of 33 percent and a power gain of 15 dB.