High power load pull measurements: Today technologies and tomorrow challenges

Accurate characterization of high power devices requires custom test sets and special attention to all the measurement details which can dramatically affects the uncertainty. Load Pull measurements are still the workhorse for high power transistor and today they are shifting from the traditional power meter based solutions to real time ones. In this paper high power load pull test sets will be overviewed by highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. The latest architecture and solutions will be presented and a comparison with the traditional one will be given.