The effect of harmonic load terminations on RF power amplifier linearity for sinusoidal and /spl pi//4 DQPSK stimuli

Author

Staudinger, J. ; Norris, G.

Author_Institution

Semicond. Products Sector, Motorola Inc., Tempe, AZ, USA

fYear

1997

fDate

23-26 Feb. 1997

Firstpage

23

Lastpage

28

Abstract

The effect of harmonic load terminations on the linearity of a GaAs MESFET power amplifier is examined for both sinusoidal and /spl pi//4 DQPSK stimuli. A large signal model is utilized with harmonic balance and envelope simulation methods to predict distortion performance of a GaAs MESFET based RF power amplifier targeting domestic TDMA cellular radio handset applications. The simulation techniques and large signal model are first validated by comparing load pull distortion measurements arising from both sinusoidal and digitally modulated RF stimuli to simulation. Excellent agreement between measurement and simulation is observed for a wide range of load line conductances. The effect of harmonic terminations on amplifier linearity is then investigated using simulation methods. The results suggest significant linearity improvements are possible with proper harmonic terminations.

Keywords

access protocols; cellular radio; differential phase shift keying; digital radio; electric distortion measurement; harmonics; load (electric); power amplifiers; quadrature phase shift keying; radiofrequency amplifiers; semiconductor device models; time division multiple access; /spl pi//4 DQPSK; GaAs; III-V semiconductor; MESFET power amplifier; RF power amplifier linearity; TDMA cellular radio handset applications; distortion performance; envelope simulation method; harmonic balance method; harmonic load terminations; large signal model; load line conductances; load pull distortion measurements; measurement; simulation techniques; sinusoidal stimuli; Distortion measurement; Gallium arsenide; Linearity; MESFETs; Power amplifiers; Power system harmonics; Predictive models; RF signals; Radio frequency; Radiofrequency amplifiers;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Wireless Applications Digest, 1997., IEEE MTT-S Symposium on Technologies for

Conference_Location

Vancouver, BC, Canada

Print_ISBN

0-7803-3318-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MTTTWA.1997.595104

Filename

595104