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In this article, we report the test strategy and the results obtained from measurements of a CMOS integrated power amplifier. The power amplifier was designed to optimally-drive an inductive link used in wireless power transfer. As part of the proposed strategy, we designed an integrated oscillator to generate the carrier frequency, as well as dc and ac envelope detectors to estimate the output power and the backscatter response. A printed board based on a microcontroller was designed to implement several test functions in a compact way. The oscillator frequency and the power delivered to the resonant load can be digitally controlled, giving flexibility to the system. Using all the designed circuits we measured the performance of the power amplifier, that achieved a maximum output power of 24.2 dBm with 48.1% efficiency at the 986 MHz frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary coil of an efficient asymmetric inductive link (IL) has a high quality factor and operates near its self-resonance frequency (SRF). Therefore, its characterization is challenging, especially because the measurement instruments must be able to measure a large reactance and a very small resistance at a frequency where the inductor radiates. In this letter, we present a method suitable for characterizing high- $Q$ inductors up to its SRF. The proposed method uses an inductive sensor to characterize the inductor under test without galvanic contact. The method was validated by applying it to the primary coil of an asymmetric IL. The empirical results are consistent with the theoretical model and the full-wave simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]