Improved Error-Correction Technique for Large-Signal Load-Pull Measurements (Short Paper)

This article presents an improved vector error-corrected calibration technique for the well-known system used for large-signal characterization of oscillator and power amplifier transistors. The calibration procedure is very similar to conventional automatic network analyzer calibration procedures, and all its measurements, except for one power measurement, are performed by the system itself. Therefore, reflection coefficient and power level measurement accuracies of the system at both the input and output ports of the DUT are excellent, and are of the same order of magnitude as those of the automatic network analyzer.