Matrix Power Amplifier With Open-Circuit Composite Right-/Left-Handed Transmission Line

A distributed matrix power amplifier with open-circuit (O.C) composite right-/left-handed (CRLH) transmission line (TL) is proposed. The matrix structure along with the zero phase-shift CRLH TL and the O.C termination of TLs have led to the design of reduced size, high-gain matrix amplifier with improved power performances. A new small size planar CRLH unit cell is presented. The maximum gain of 21.5 dB at the center frequency is obtained. The measured 1-dB gain compression (P1-dB) is 26 dBm, and the maximum power added efficiency is 29%. Better gain and P1-dB are achieved compared to the previously published narrowband distributed amplifiers. The amplifier has good linearity according to the measured input intercept point (18 dBm) and the output intercept point (39 dBm).