Characterization and optimization of pulse drivers for switched mode power amplifier measurements

This paper focuses on the evaluation of pulse drivers for the use in class-S power amplifier setups with respect to linearity. Nonlinear effects are likely to degrade the overall system performance, though they are hard to characterize especially in an early stage of design. Based on measurements conducted with a configurable pulse driver, namely Triquint´s TGA4954-SL, a simple gauging method was developed. It allows the identification of favorable bias-parameter settings or the comparison of different devices while requiring only very little knowledge of the overall system.