Characterization of the Frequency Dependent Match for Optimal Performance of Wideband Power Amplifiers

This paper investigates optimum load synthesis methods for wideband multi-carrier compatible power amplifiers (PAs) using active modulated load-pull analysis. The analysis demonstrates that frequency-dependent optimum impedance enhances the power added rfficiency (PAE) up to 3-5% and the gain up to 1-2dB near and beyond the 1-dB compression. The proposed optimum impedance synthesis approach offers more comprehensive information about the device-under-test (DUT) performance for real-time wideband applications. Moreover, it provides an analysis platform to determine the optimal frequency-dependent matching network across the modulation band for wideband PAs.