Pulsed RF calibration for NVNA measurements

Abstract

This paper presents a new calibration theory for pulsed-RF large-signal measurement which relies on a new pulsed HPR and new pulsed power calibration besides the conventional relative linear calibration. The methodology used is based on the multiharmonic characterization of the RF pulser under pulsed-operation. The pulsed-RF calibration technique is facilitated by the fast switching and settling of the pulser which must have reached quasi-steady state when the RF signals are sampled. Experimental results for the new pulsed-RF calibration are presented for an LSNA. A small calibration correction is found to be required due to the dispersion of the buffer stage between the LSNA samplers and ADCs. The technique which is demonstrated for an LSNA operating using the multiple recording technique could be used with other NVNAs.