Load-Pull Techniques with Applications to Power Amplifier Design (eBook)

Fadhel M. Ghannouchi is professor and AITF/CRC Chair in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, Canada, and Director of the Intelligent RF Radio Laboratory. He has held numerous invited positions at several academic and research institutions in Europe, North America and Japan. He has provided consulting services to a number of microwave and wireless communications companies. His research interests are in the areas of microwave instrumentation and measurements, nonlinear modeling of microwave devices and communications systems, design of power and spectrum efficient microwave amplification systems and design of intelligent RF transceivers and software-defined radio systems for wireless and satellite communications. His research activities have led to over 500 publications and 14 US patents (6 pending) and two books. He is Fellow of IEEE and he has been a distinguished microwave lecturer of IEEE MTT-S since 2009.Mohammad S. Hashmi received MS degree from Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany and PhD degree from Cardiff University, UK. He is now an adjunct researcher at the iRadio Lab, University of Calgary, Canada and Assistant Professor at IIIT Delhi, India. He was previously associated with Philips Semiconductors and Thales Electronics in Germany during which time he was involved in the field of RF circuits and systems. His current research interests are related to nonlinear microwave instrumentation, microwave device characterization, and linearization of power amplifiers for mobile and satellite applications. He was the recipient of 2008 Automatic Radio Frequency Techniques Group (ARFTG) Microwave Measurement Fellowship, and 3rd place winner in the novel and creative instrument design competition organized by IEEE MTT-11 for the year 2008. His research has led to over 40 publications and 3 US patents (pending).

Preface 7
Acknowledgements 9
Contents 10
Chapter 1: Fundamentals 14
1.1 Introduction 14
1.2 RF Power Ampli er Characteristics 15
1.3 Figures of Merit 17
1.3.1 Drain Ef ciency and Power Added Ef ciency 18
1.3.2 Intermodulation and Harmonic Distortions 19
1.3.3 Adjacent Channel Power Ratio 21
1.3.4 Error Vector Magnitude 22
1.4 Power Ampli er 23
1.5 Power Ampli er Design Methodologies 27
1.5.1 CAD-Based Design Methods 27
1.5.2 Measurement-Based Design Methods 28
1.6 Nonlinear Microwave Measurement System 29
1.6.1 What Is Load-Pull? 30
1.6.2 Why Load-Pull? 30
1.7 Important Load-Pull Features 31
1.7.1 Repeatability of Re ection Coef cients 32
1.7.2 Tuning Range and Its Distribution 32
1.7.3 Tuning Speed 33
1.7.4 Power Handling Capability 33
1.7.5 Tuner Resolution 33
1.7.6 Tuner Bandwidth 34
1.7.7 Tuner Size 34
1.8 Common Load-Pull Systems 35
References 36
Chapter 2: Passive Load-Pull Systems 41
2.1 Introduction 41
2.2 Passive Load-Pull System 42
2.2.1 Electromechanical Tuner (EMT) 42
2.2.2 Electronic Tuner (ETS) 45
2.2.3 ETS and EMT Comparisons 46
2.3 Load-Pull Measurement 47
2.3.1 Load-Pull Setup 48
2.3.2 System Calibration 50
2.4 Harmonic Load-Pull System 54
2.4.1 Triplexer Based Harmonic Load-Pull Setup 56
2.4.2 Harmonic Rejection Tuner Based Harmonic Load-Pull Setup 57
2.4.3 Single Tuner Harmonic Load-Pull Setup 58
2.4.4 Harmonic Load-Pull Comparisons 59
2.5 Tuning Range Enhancement 61
2.5.1 Enhanced Loop Architecture 62
2.5.2 Cascaded Tuner 63
References 64
Chapter 3: Active Load-Pull Systems 67
3.1 Introduction 67
3.2 Closed-Loop Load-Pull System 68
3.2.1 System Realization 68
3.2.2 Analysis of Closed-Loop System 69
3.3 Closed-Loop Load-Pull Architectures 74
3.4 Optimized Closed-Loop Load-Pull System 76
3.5 Feed-Forward Load-Pull System 80
3.6 Optimized Feed-Forward Load-Pull System 83
3.7 Harmonic Feed-Forward Load-Pull System 86
3.8 Open-Loop Load-Pull System 88
3.9 Convergence Algorithm for Open-Loop and Feed-Forward Load-Pull Techniques 90
3.10 Comparison of Active Load-Pull Techniques 95
References 96
Chapter 4: Six-Port Based Load-Pull System 98
4.1 Introduction 98
4.2 Impedance and Power Flow Measurement 99
4.3 SP in Reverse Con guration 100
4.3.1 SP Calibration in Reverse Con guration 100
4.3.2 Error Box Calculation 104
4.3.3 Discussion 105
4.4 SP Based Source-Pull Con guration 106
4.5 SP Based Load-Pull Con guration 107
4.5.1 Passive Load-Pull System 107
4.5.2 Active Branch Load-Pull System 108
4.5.3 Active Loop Load-Pull System 110
4.6 On-Wafer Load-Pull Measurements 110
4.7 Applications of Source-Pull Setup 112
4.7.1 Low Noise Ampli er Characterization 113
4.7.2 Mixer Characterization 114
4.7.3 Power Ampli er Characterization 115
4.8 Oscillator Measurements 115
4.9 AM/AM and AM/PM Measurements 117
4.9.1 Principles of Operation 118
4.9.2 Measurement Procedure 121
References 121
Chapter 5: High-Power Load-Pull Systems 123
5.1 Introduction 123
5.2 Limitations of Existing Load-Pull Systems 123
5.2.1 Problems Due to High Standing Waves 124
5.2.2 Problem of Large Load-Pull Power 128
5.3 High-Power Load-Pull 129
5.3.1 Pre-matching Technique 130
5.3.2 Enhanced Loop Architecture 132
5.3.3 Quarter Wave Transformer Technique 134
5.3.4 Broadband Impedance Transformer Technique 136
5.4 Impact of a Transformation Network on PLP and VSWR 137
5.5 Hybrid Load-Pull System 140
5.6 Calibration and Data Extraction 143
References 146
Chapter 6: Envelope Load-Pull System 149
6.1 Introduction 149
6.2 Envelope Load-Pull Concept 150
6.2.1 Mathematical Formulation 150
6.3 Practical Realization 152
6.3.1 Design of Control Unit 152
6.4 ELP Calibration 155
6.4.1 Error Flow Model Formulation 155
6.4.2 Simpli cation of the Error Flow Model 156
6.4.3 Calibration Technique 158
6.4.4 Evaluation of the Calibration Technique 160
6.5 Stability Analysis 163
6.6 Features of the Envelope Load-Pull System 164
6.7 Harmonic Envelope Load-Pull System 165
6.8 Unique Measurement Applications 167
References 170
Chapter 7: Waveform Measurement and Engineering 173
7.1 Introduction 173
7.2 Theoretical Formulation 174
7.3 Historical Perspectives 175
7.4 Practical Waveform Measurement System 179
7.5 System Calibration 180
7.5.1 First Step: Power Flow Calibration 181
7.5.2 Second Step: S-Parameter Calibration 182
7.5.3 Third Step: Enhanced Calibration 184
7.5.4 Calibration Evaluation 185
7.6 Six-Port Based Waveform Measurement System 187
7.6.1 Multi-harmonic Reference Generator 188
7.6.2 SP Re ectometer Principle 188
7.6.3 Multi-harmonic SP Re ectometer Architecture 189
7.6.4 Multi-harmonic SP Re ectometer Calibration 191
7.6.5 Calibration Veri cation 192
7.7 Waveform Engineering 193
7.8 Applications of Waveform Engineering 194
7.8.1 Transistor Characterization 194
7.8.2 CAD Incorporation 195
7.8.3 Power Ampli er Design 196
References 197
Chapter 8: Advanced Con gurations and Applications 200
8.1 Introduction 200
8.2 Multi-tone Load-Pull Technique 200
8.3 Real-Time Multi-harmonic Load-Pull Technique 206
8.4 Modulated Signal Load-Pull Technique 210
8.5 Multi-tone Envelope Load-Pull Technique 213
8.6 Wideband Load-Pull Technique 217
8.6.1 Wideband Load-Pull Approach 218
8.6.2 Setup Description 219
8.7 Noise Characterization 221
8.7.1 Noise Parameter Measurement 221
8.7.2 Noise Parameter Test Setup 224
8.8 Mixer Characterization 226
8.8.1 Measurement Setup 226
8.8.2 Experimental Procedure 229
References 230
Authors 234
About the Book 235
Index 236