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13 - Load- and source-pull techniques

from Part IV - Nonlinear measurements

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2013

By
Valeria Teppati ,
Andrea Ferrero  and
Gian Luigi Madonna
Edited by
Valeria Teppati ,
Andrea Ferrero  and
Mohamed Sayed
Valeria Teppati
Affiliation:
ETH Zürich
Andrea Ferrero
Affiliation:
Politecnico di Torino
Gian Luigi Madonna
Affiliation:
ABB Corporate Research
Valeria Teppati
Affiliation:
Swiss Federal University (ETH), Zürich
Andrea Ferrero
Affiliation:
Politecnico di Torino
Mohamed Sayed
Affiliation:
Microwave and Millimeter Wave Solutions, Santa Rosa
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Summary

Introduction

Chapter 12 has explained how S-parameter measurements in small-signal conditions are not adequate to characterize an active device for a relevant number of applications. In large-signal conditions the performance of the active device under test (e.g. output power, gain, and efficiency) does not only depend on the chosen bias point and the excitation frequency, but also on the input power level and the loading conditions at the input and output ports.

The “Rieke diagrams” were already used in the early 1940s to show how the performances of microwave tubes and oscillators vary as a function of load impedance [1]. The oscillating frequency and output power used to be plotted on the Smith chart as contours at constant level. The modern term of “load-pull” comes from these early applications, where a change of the load impedance would have “pulled” the output oscillator frequency.

More precisely, the term “source and load-pull systems” refers nowadays to the set of instrumentation (at microwaves and at lower frequencies) needed to address two main issues:

  • setting and monitoring the DUT loading conditions,

  • measuring the DUT performance of interest.

Chapter 12 has already described in detail the most modern large-signal measurement techniques to address the second point. However, it will be clear in this chapter that the two problems are strictly correlated, as the solutions chosen for the former have a considerable impact on the latter.

Type
Chapter
Information
Modern RF and Microwave Measurement Techniques , pp. 345 - 383
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2013

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