AUTHORS: Steve Dudkiewicz – Director, Device Characterization Business Development, Maury Microwave Corporation
PUBLICATION HISTORY: First published in the September 2010 issue of the Microwave Journal and republished in this form (with permission) in October 2010 by Maury Microwave Corporation.
ABSTRACT: Discusses how the evolution of load-pull tuning has led to hybrid and mixed-signal approaches that use the best features of mechanical and active tuners to speed measurements on nonlinear devices. Includes discussions of traditional passive mechanical tuner systems, harmonic load-pull techniques, active closed-loop load-pull methods, active open-loop load-pull systems, and the more recent hybrid load-pull and mixed-signal active load-pull approaches. Compares the relative merits and demerits of each approach and touches on the Maury MT2000 series Mixed-Signal Active Load-Pull systems as a advantageous solution.