Components for Superconductor Digital-RF Predistorter

HYPRES is developing a superconductor digital-RF predistorter for direct linearization of radio frequency (RF) power amplifiers. The predistorter utilizes proportional (P), squared integral (I) and differential (D) corrections. We report progress in the proportional component implementation. We designed, fabricated and tested a 4-to-16 decoder, a 16-to-6 memory matrix and a test pattern generator integrated on a 10 mm times 10 mm chip. We also designed a pipelined differentiator, the critical element of the differential component, and its combination with the decoder. The correct operation of a resettable counter to implement the integral predistorter function is reported. The design issues of the complete superconductor PID predistorter are discussed in brief.