POWER-ADDED EFFICIENCY ERRORS WITH RF POWER-AMPLIFIERS

This paper investigates the errors that can result when applying two d ifferent definitions of power-added efficiency to RF power amplifiers. The first definition is generic to all multiple-port networks and is simply the ratio of the total output power to total input power. The s econd definition is specific to RF power amplifiers and widely regarde d as the industry standard. It has been found that, for power amplifie r applications, the error can be highly significant.