AUTHORS: Gary Simpson – Maury Microwave Corporation
PUBLICATION HISTORY: First published as an ATS training aid in June 1997; Revised and reprinted in this format in December 2000.
ABSTRACT: Automated source and load pull is widely used in power amplifier development to determine device capability and matching network requirements. Recently, harmonic load pull has become increasingly important, especially for optimizing efficiency and linearity. Harmonic source pull is also very significant for optimizing performance. Measured data shows that harmonic source tuning can sometimes have as big or bigger effect than the harmonic load tuning. When performance is critical, harmonic source tuning should be part of the process. This paper also discussed how the tuning range of passive tuner systems can be extended with prematching or with active tuners.