Abstract
Characterization of power transistors is an indispensable step in the design of radio frequency and microwave power amplifiers. A full harmonic load-pull measurement setup is normally required for the accurate and comprehensive characterization of RF power transistors. The setup is usually highly complex, leading to a relatively high hardware cost and low measurement throughput. This paper presents X-parameter measurement on a gallium nitride (GaN) high-electron-mobility transistor and studies the potential of utilizing an X-parameter-based modeling technique to highly reduce the complexity of the harmonic load-pull measurement setup for transistor characterization. During the X-parameter measurement and characterization, load impedance of the device is tuned and controlled only at the fundamental frequency and is left uncontrolled at other higher harmonics. However, it proves preliminarily that the extracted X-parameters can still predict the behavior of the device with moderate to high accuracy, when the load impedance is tuned up to the third-order harmonic frequency. It means that a fundamental-only load-pull test setup is already enough even though the device is to be characterized under load tuning up to the third-order harmonic frequency, by utilizing X-parameters.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.