Optimum design of small-signal microwave amplifiers with specified stability safety margin

When employing conditionally stable transistors in microwave amplifier design, it is impossible to have both parts perfectly matched. One can easily design for a perfect match at one of the parts, but the resulting mismatch at the remaining part may be unacceptable. Through trial and error using graphical methods, the designer may trade-off the perfect part match for improved match at the other part. In this paper, we propose a systematic approach whereby the maximisation of an objective function results in maximum gain and part match, for given stability safety margins