Load-Pull Techniques with Applications to Power Amplifier Design

240 Pages·2013·8.81 MB·English

by  Fadhel M. Ghannouchi

Load-Pull Techniques with Applications to Power
Amplifier Design
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Fadhel M. Ghannouchi (cid:2) Mohammad S. Hashmi
Load-Pull
Techniques
with Applications
to Power Amplifier
Design
FadhelM.Ghannouchi MohammadS.Hashmi
ElectricalandComputerEngineering, ElectricalandComputerEngineering,
IntelligentRFRadioLaboratory IntelligentRFRadioLaboratory
UniversityofCalgary UniversityofCalgary
Calgary,Alberta Calgary,Alberta
Canada Canada
ISSN1437-0387 SpringerSeriesinAdvancedMicroelectronics
ISBN978-94-007-4460-8 ISBN978-94-007-4461-5(eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-94-007-4461-5
SpringerDordrechtHeidelbergNewYorkLondon
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2012939475
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FadhelM. Ghannouchidedicatesthisbookto
hiswifeAsma,anddaughtersLaylaand
Nadia
Mohammad S. Hashmi dedicates this book to
hiswifeRabeya,andson Jafar
Preface
Forthepurposeofidentifyingthelarge-signalbehaviorofthetransistordevices,the
useoflinearS-parameterisofteninadequate.Large-signalcharacterization,there-
fore,isessentialfortheestimationanddeterminationofthedeviceperformancein
the nonlinear domain. The load-pull approach is one recommended approach for
thelarge-signalcharacterization,optimization,anddesignoftransistordevicesand
radiofrequency(RF),microwaveandmm-wavepoweramplifiers(PAs).
Theload-pulltechniquewasfirstreportedalmostfourdecadesago.Thispioneer-
ingwork broughtaparadigmshiftinthecharacterization,measurement,andopti-
mizationoftransistordevicesandPAs.Thefirstload-pullsetupcanbeconsidered
rudimentarybuthasdefinitelyhelpedinadvancingthestate-of-the-artinload-pull
techniques.
This book describes the principles of operation, calibration, design and real-
ization approaches and application of load-pull techniques in the context of PAs.
It explores the topic from the basic principles of load-pull techniques through to
theirmanyinterestingadvancements,includingpassiveandactivetechniques,high
powerload-pullandenvelopeload-pullsetupswithapplicationstoamplifier,mixer
and noise measurements. In addition, the book also covers waveform engineering
systems,theircalibrationtechniquesandapplications.
Thebookcanbeusedbygraduatestudents,researchersanddesignengineersin
microwaveandwirelessdesignareas.Itisassumedthatthereadershavealreadyac-
quiredabasicknowledgeofRFandmicrowavecircuitdesign.Asolidbackground
intransmissionlinetheoryandbasiccommunicationconceptsisrequired.Thebook
may also be used as a textbook for a graduate course on large signal device mea-
surementandcharacterization.
Chapter1isabriefreminderofthebasicconceptsrelatedtoPAcharacteristics,
figuresofmeritsofPA,poweramplifierclassesofoperation,PAdesignmethodolo-
gies,andintroductiontoload-pullsystemsalongwiththeirimportantfeatures.
Chapter 2 is dedicated to passive load-pull techniques. It explains the funda-
mentals of passive load tuning techniques and elaborates on the two most com-
montechniques,namelyelectronictuner(ETS)andelectromechanicaltuner(EMT),
employedtoachieveimpedancetuningusingpassingapproach.Measurementand
vii
viii Preface
calibration procedure applied in a load-pull measurement setup is then discussed
in detail. The chapter also provides extensive details on various passive harmonic
load-pullarchitecturesalongwiththeirrespectiveadvantagesandlimitations.Sub-
sequently,commontechniquesusedtoenhancethetuningrangeofpassiveload-pull
setupsarediscussed.
Chapter3providesextensivedetailsonactiveload-pulltechniquesandsystems.
Itstartswithclosed-loopactiveload-pulltechniqueanditsrealizationmethods.Ad-
equatedetailshavebeenincludedforthedesignofapplicationspecificclosed-loop
load-pullsystem.Itthencoversfeed-forwardactiveload-pullandvariousmethods
todevelophybridsetup,forenhancingthetuningrangeandachievinghighlyreflec-
tiveload-pullsystems.Activeopen-loopload-pullrequiresiterativeoperationofthe
systemforconvergingonoptimalimpedancesolution.Thelastsectionisdedicated
toanalgorithmforhighspeedconvergenceinactiveopen-loopload-pullsystems.
Chapter 4 presents the theory, techniques and principles behind using six-port
reflectometerinreverseandforwardconfigurationstocharacterizetransistorsoper-
atedinlargesignalconditions,andtheissuesrelatedtotheimplementationofthese
techniquesarediscussed.Source-pullcharacterizationusingsix-portreflectometer
fortransistornoisemeasurement,mixertestinganddesign,aswellasoscillatorde-
vicelinemeasurementpurposesareexplainedanddiscussed.AM/AMandAM/PM
distortion measurement and passive and active load-pull large signal characteriza-
tionoftransistorsusingthesix-portreflectometertechniquearealsopresentedand
discussed.
Chapter5dealswiththeissuesinvolvedinthecharacterizationofhighpowermi-
crowavetransistordevices.Therearemultipleaspectsthatneedtobeaddressedin
ordertoovercomethoseissues.Allthesehavebeendiscussedindetailinthischap-
ter. The techniques adopted in customizing the load-pull setup for high power de-
vicemeasurementsandcharacterizationapplicationshavebeenelaboratedandex-
plainedindetail.Finally,emergingsolutionscateringtolargeperipheryhighpower
microwavedevicesarepresented.
Chapter6presentsthetheoryofactiveenvelopeloadpull(ELP)andtheassoci-
ateddesignandcalibrationtechniquesofactiveenvelopeload-pull.Thereafterhar-
monicenvelopeload-pullisexplainedindetailwhichisfollowedbysomeunique
measurementapplicationsofenvelopeload-pullsystem.
Chapter7isdedicatedtotheoryandcalibrationapproachesadoptedindevelop-
ing error corrected nonlineartime-domainwaveformmeasurementssystems. Sub-
sequently the concept of waveform engineering is presented. Finally, a number of
applicationsofwaveformengineeringsystemarediscussed.
Chapter 8 presents some advanced applications and configurations of load-pull
setups.Thefirstpartofthischapterprimarilydiscussestheconceptofload-pullsys-
temsformulti-toneandmodulatedexcitations.Itexperimentallydemonstratesthat
suchsystemsareextremelyusefulforreallifepracticalapplications.Thentheuseof
load-pullandsource-pullsystemsinnoisecharacterizationisdescribedindetail.Fi-
nallyapplicationofload-pullsystemsinmixercharacterizationandmeasurements
inpresented.
Acknowledgements
Wewouldliketogratefullyacknowledgethehelpandsupportreceivedfromfriends,
colleagues,support staff and students, both past and present at iRadio Laboratory,
UniversityofCalgary,Calgary;Poly-gramesResearchCenter,EcolePolytechnique,
Montreal;andCardiffUniversity,UK.Wearegratefultoourgreatstudentsandre-
searchers;thisbookcouldnothavebeencompletedwithouttheirfruitfulresearch.
Inparticular,wewouldliketothankDr.R.G.BosisioandDr.P.J.Taskerfortheir
useful comments, discussions, collaboration and for their help in producing many
of the results presented in this book over the years. In addition, we would like to
thankC.HeysforherhelpinproofreadingandformattingthemanuscriptandIvana
d’Adamoforheradministrativesupport.TheauthorswouldalsoliketothankIEEE
and Focus Microwaves for their permission and courtesy to reproduce several fig-
uresandillustrationspublishedintheirjournalsand/orapplicationnotes.
Dr.M.HashmiacknowledgesAlbertaInnovatesTechnologyFutures(AITF),Al-
berta,Canadaforthefinancialcontributiontosupportthepost-doctoralfellowship
at iRadio Laboratory, University of Calgary, which helped the completion of this
work.DrGhannouchiacknowledgesthemainsponsorsandfinancialsupportersof
the Intelligent Radio Laboratory (iRadio Lab), Alberta Innovates Technology Fu-
tures (AITF), Alberta, Canada, the Canada Research Chairs (CRC) program and
NaturalScienceandEngineeringcouncilofCanada(NSERC).
Finally we would like to profoundly thank our respective spouses Asma and
Rabeya,andchildrenLaylaGhannouchi,NadiaGhannouchiandJafarTalalHashmi
for their understanding and patience throughout the many evenings and weekends
takento prepare this book.We are also thankfulto our respectivepatents for their
encouragementandvaluablesupportinourearlyprofessionalyearsasgraduatestu-
dentsandyoungresearchers.
ix
Contents
1 Fundamentals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 RFPowerAmplifierCharacteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 FiguresofMerit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3.1 DrainEfficiencyandPowerAddedEfficiency . . . . . . . 5
1.3.2 IntermodulationandHarmonicDistortions . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3.3 AdjacentChannelPowerRatio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.3.4 ErrorVectorMagnitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.4 PowerAmplifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.5 PowerAmplifierDesignMethodologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.5.1 CAD-BasedDesignMethods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.5.2 Measurement-BasedDesignMethods . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.6 NonlinearMicrowaveMeasurementSystem . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.6.1 WhatIsLoad-Pull? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.6.2 WhyLoad-Pull? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.7 ImportantLoad-PullFeatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.7.1 RepeatabilityofReflectionCoefficients . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.7.2 TuningRangeandItsDistribution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.7.3 TuningSpeed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.7.4 PowerHandlingCapability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.7.5 TunerResolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.7.6 TunerBandwidth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
1.7.7 TunerSize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
1.8 CommonLoad-PullSystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2 PassiveLoad-PullSystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.2 PassiveLoad-PullSystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.2.1 ElectromechanicalTuner(EMT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.2.2 ElectronicTuner(ETS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
xi
xii Contents
2.2.3 ETSandEMTComparisons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.3 Load-PullMeasurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.3.1 Load-PullSetup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.3.2 SystemCalibration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.4 HarmonicLoad-PullSystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.4.1 TriplexerBasedHarmonicLoad-PullSetup . . . . . . . . . 44
2.4.2 HarmonicRejectionTunerBasedHarmonicLoad-PullSetup 45
2.4.3 SingleTunerHarmonicLoad-PullSetup . . . . . . . . . . 46
2.4.4 HarmonicLoad-PullComparisons . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2.5 TuningRangeEnhancement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
2.5.1 EnhancedLoopArchitecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
2.5.2 CascadedTuner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3 ActiveLoad-PullSystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.2 Closed-LoopLoad-PullSystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.2.1 SystemRealization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.2.2 AnalysisofClosed-LoopSystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.3 Closed-LoopLoad-PullArchitectures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3.4 OptimizedClosed-LoopLoad-PullSystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.5 Feed-ForwardLoad-PullSystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
3.6 OptimizedFeed-ForwardLoad-PullSystem . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3.7 HarmonicFeed-ForwardLoad-PullSystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
3.8 Open-LoopLoad-PullSystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
3.9 Convergence Algorithm for Open-Loop and Feed-Forward
Load-PullTechniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
3.10 ComparisonofActiveLoad-PullTechniques . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4 Six-PortBasedLoad-PullSystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4.2 ImpedanceandPowerFlowMeasurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.3 SPinReverseConfiguration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
4.3.1 SPCalibrationinReverseConfiguration . . . . . . . . . . 89
4.3.2 ErrorBoxCalculation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
4.3.3 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
4.4 SPBasedSource-PullConfiguration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
4.5 SPBasedLoad-PullConfiguration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
4.5.1 PassiveLoad-PullSystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
4.5.2 ActiveBranchLoad-PullSystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
4.5.3 ActiveLoopLoad-PullSystem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
4.6 On-WaferLoad-PullMeasurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
4.7 ApplicationsofSource-PullSetup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
4.7.1 LowNoiseAmplifierCharacterization . . . . . . . . . . . 102
4.7.2 MixerCharacterization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103