Title :
IIP3 estimation from the gain compression curve
Author :
Cho, Choongeol ; Eisenstadt, William R. ; Stengel, Bob ; Ferrer, Enrique
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
fDate :
4/1/2005 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
Classical analysis of transistor amplifier performance shows 9.6 dB as the difference between the input-referred third-order intercept point (IIP3) and 1-dB gain compression point. An analysis of amplifier gain compression shows that this is not the case, that at least fifth-order harmonics play a role in the gain compression curve and that the classical analysis is incorrect for submicrometer RF transistor amplifiers. Another approach is presented that estimates the values of IIP3 from a single-tone RF power gain data. This approach is successfully applied to simulations of a common-source amplifier and a differential amplifier with resistive load. Measurements of commercial amplifiers show that IIP3 can be estimated from their gain compression curves. This modeling approach of determining IIP3 from gain compression curves can simplify test protocol, shorten test time, and lower cost of integrated-circuit production test.
Keywords :
integrated circuit testing; microwave integrated circuits; nonlinear network analysis; radiofrequency amplifiers; 1 dB; IIP3 estimation; RF power gain data; amplifier gain compression; amplifier nonlinear characteristics; common-source amplifier; differential amplifier; fifth-order harmonics; gain compression curve; input-referred third-order intercept point; integrated-circuit production test; resistive load; submicrometer RF transistor amplifiers; transistor amplifier; Costs; Differential amplifiers; Gain measurement; Harmonic analysis; Performance analysis; Performance gain; Protocols; Radio frequency; Radiofrequency amplifiers; Testing; 1-dB gain compression point; Amplifier nonlinear characteristics; input-referred third-order intercept point (IIP3) estimation; integrated-circuit (IC) test; third-order intercept point (IP3);
Journal_Title :
Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TMTT.2005.845746