RF Power Amplifiers — Just How Do They Rate?

RF power amplifiers have many different aspects that can be measured and, accordingly, specified. This paper ennumerates and discusses these characteristics, including obvious ones, such as frequency range, output power, and gain, as well as more obscure features — bandwidth, harmonic output, gain compression, intermodulation distortion, and so on. The paper's discussion of RF amplifiers' limitations can help designers choose the right amplifier for an application.