Analog Predistortion Linearizer for a Gallium Nitride Power Amplifier

A linearizer has been produced to linearize a 200W C Band Gallium Nitride solid state power amplifier. The design is developed based on the method of correcting phase and gain distortion. The linearizer successfully increases the effective output power of the amplifier by at least 1dB for 5.85GHz-6.725GHz, keeping IM3 levels at lower than -22dBc. The device also improves the flatness of the gain vs input power transfer function of the amplifier over a wide range of input powers and across the frequency band. This linearizer gives a modest improvement in intermodulation distortion correction and gain vs input power flatness compared to other linearizers of similar complexity, cost and size.