A General Matching Theory and Its Application to Tunnel Diode Amplifiers

In this paper we generalize Youla's theory of broadband matching to include both passive and active 1-port load impedances. The design philosophy of lossless coupling networks for an active load is different from that of a passive load; however, the design theory is quite similar. The theory is illustrated in a detailed example with a tunnel diode as the active load. Both series resistance and inductance are used in the equivalent circuit representation. New results in terms of theoretical limitation on gain-bandwidth and a sufficient condition for potential stability are obtained.