Noise Figure Signal - to - noise ratio : The ratio of desired signal power to undesired noise power .

Noise Figure : a measure of the signal - to - noise ratio between input and output of the component . Noise Figure F

Si F= So

Ni No

S i : input signal power

N i : input noise power

S o : output signal power

N 0 : output noise power

N i = kTO B where TO =290K

Consider the following noise network

R Pi= i+ i S N No isy n two e rk G , B , Te Po So No = + R

To 2 0 =9 K

G : gain the network B: bandwidth

Te : equivalent noise temperature

Si F= So Ni No = Si kGB(TO + Te ) T = = 1+ e 1 kTO B GS i TO

Noise Figure is defined for a matched input source and for a noise source that consists of a resistor at temperature TO =290K .

Te = (T1 1)TO

Noise figure and noise temperature are interchangable . Consider the following loss line or attenuator with loss L and temperature T . Since the entire system is in thermal equivalent N i = N o

KtB

L , T , Zo R =

Po Ktb No = =

Po = GkTB + GN addid = kTB

N addid = 1 G kTB = ( L 1)kTB G

N addid is the noise generated by the line and L=1/G

Te = N addis 1 G = T = ( L 1)T kB G
Te T = 1 + ( L 1) To To

F = 1+

If the line is at temperature To , F=L . This states that a 10 dB attenuator at room temperature has a noise figure of 10 dB . Noise Figure of a cascaded system Consider the cascade of two components as shown below
Ni To G1 F1 Te1 N1 G2 F2 Te2 No

G1 ;G2 : gains
F1 ; F2 : noise figures

Te1 ; Te 2 : equivalent noise temperature N 1 = G1kTo B + G1kTe1 B

The noise power at the output of the second stage is

N 0 = G2 N 1 + G2 kTe2 B
= G2 G1kTo B + G2 G1kTe1 B + G2 kTe 2 B
= G2 G1kB(To + Te1 + 1 Te 2 ) G1

We define the equivalent network as

Ni To G1 G2 F cascaded Te ,cascad ed No

N o = G1G2 kTo B + G1G2 kBTe,cascaded = G1G2 kB(To + Te ,cascaded )

Therefore , we obtain
Te,cascaded = Te1 + 1 Te 2 G1

F = 1+

Te T 1 Te 2 = 1 + e1 + To To G1 To
1 ( F2 1) G1

= 1 + ( F1 1) +

= F1 +

1 ( F2 1) G1

For an arbitrary number of stages , we obtain

Tcascaded = Te1 + Fcascaded = F1 +

Te 2 T + e 3 + ... G1 G1G2 F2 1 F3 1 + + ... G1 G1G2

Example : Consider the following wireless local area network (WLAN) receiver , where the bandwidth of the bandpass filter is 100MHz centered at 2.4GHz . If the system is t room temperature .

IL =1 d .5 B

G =1 d 0 B F =2 d B

G =2 d 0 B F =2 d B

(a) Find the noise figure of the overall system . (b) What is the resulting signal - to - noise ratio at the output , if the input power level is -90dBm ? (c) Can the components be rearranged to give a better noise figure ? Solution : The noise figure of the cascade is F 1 F3 1 Fcas = F1 + 2 + = 1.41 + (1.58 1)(1.41) + (1.41) / 10 G1 G1G2 = 2.31 = 3.64dB If Pin = 90dBm , than we get

Piout = 90dBm 1.5dB + 10dB + 20dB = 61.5dBm

The noise power output is

Pn = Gcas kTe,cas B = k ( Fcas 1)To BGcas

= (1.38 10 23 )( 2.31 1)( 290)(108 )(10 = 64.3dBm
2.85 10

) = 3.71 10 10 W

Thus

SO

NO

= 61.5 + 64.3 = 2.8dB

The best noise figure would be achieved with the arrangement shown below

G =20 dB F =2 dB

G =10 dB F =2 dB

IL =1.5 dB BW =100 MHz

Then the noise figure is

Fcas = 1.58 + (1.58 1) (1.41 1) + = 1.586 = 2.0dB 100 1000

In practice , however , the essential filter may serve to present overload of the amplifier and may not be allowed to be moved .

Low Noise Amplifier The noise figure of a two - port amplifier can be expressed as
F = Fmin + RN YS Yopt GS
2

where
YS = G S + jBS : source admittance presented to transistor

Yopt : optimum source admittance that results in minimum noise figure .

Fmin : minimum noise figure of transistor , attained when YS = Yopt

RN : equivalent noise resistance of transistor

Also we have

YS =

1 1 S Z o 1 + S

Yopt =

1 1 opt Z o 1 + opt

The quantities Fmin , opt and RN are the characteristics of the particular transistor being used and are called the noise parameters of the device .
YS Yopt
2

S opt 4 = 2 ZO 1 + 2 1 + S opt

* 1 1 S 1 S 1 1 S ( + )= and GS = Re{YS } = * 2 Z O 1 + S 1 + S Z O 1 + S

2 2

Therefore , we obtain
S opt 4 RN F = Fmin + Z O (1 2 )(1 2 ) S opt
2

Constant Noise Figure Circles For a given noise figure Fi , we define a noise figure parameter , called
N i , as
Ni = S O 1 S
2 2

Fi Fmin 1 + O 4 rn

This equation can be written as ( S O )( * * ) = N i N i S

S O

* or S (1 + N i ) + O 2 Re(S O ) = N i

If we now multiply both sides by 1 + N i . we obtain

* S (1 + N i ) 2 + O 2(1 + N i ) Re( S O ) = N i2 + N i (1 O ) 2 2 2

or S O 1+ Ni

N i2 + N i (1 O ) (1 + N i ) 2

This is a family of circles with N i as a parameter . The circles are

centered at C Fi =

O 1+ Ni
1
2

2 with radii RFi = 1 + N N i + N i (1 O ) i

When Fi = Fmin , then N i =0 , C F min = O , and RF min = 0 . The centers of other noise figure circles are located along the O vector . Example : Noise Figure Circles A certain GaAs MESFET has the following noise - figure parameters measured at Vds = 5V , I ds = 20mA , with a 50- resistance for a frequency of 9 GHz.
Fmin = 2dB
o = 0.4851550

R n = 4
Plot the noise - figure circles for given values of 4.0 , and 5.0dB. Solution : follows :
Ni =
2 1.78 1.59 1 + 0.4851550 = 0.21 4( 4 / 50)

Fi

at 2.5 , 3.0 , 3.5 ,

1. From values of N i , cFi and rFi for Fi at 2.5dB are computed as

0.4851550 c Fi = = 0.401550 1 + 0.21

1 1 2 [(0.21) 2 + 0.21(1 0.485 )] 2 1 + 0.21 = 0.37

rFi =

2. Similarly , the values of N i , cFi and rFi for Fi at 5dB are also computed . 3. All values are tabulated in Table . Table : VALUES OF NOISE - FIGURE CIRCLES

Fi (dB)
fi

2.5 1.78 0.21 0.37

3 2 0.45 0.51

3.5 2.24 0.71 0.55

4 2.5 1 0.66

5 3.16 1.72 0.76

Ni cFi

0.40 1550 0.33 1550 0.28 1550 0.24 1550 0.18 1550

rFi

4. The noise - figure circles are plotted in the Figure .

Example : A AaAs is biased for minimum noise figure and has the following S parameters at 4GHz ( Z 0 = 50 ) , S11 = 0.6 600 , S 21 = 0.621000 ,
RN = 20 . Since S12 is relatively small , we assume the device is

unilateral . Then design an amplifier having 2.0dB noise figure with the maximum gain that is compatible with this noise figure . Solution : We first compute the center and radius of the 2.0dB noise figure circle :
Ni =
2 2 Fi Fmin 1.58 1.445 1 + opt = 1 + 0.621000 = 0.0986 4 RN / Z o 4( 20 / 50)

c Fi =

opt Ni +1

= 0.56100 0
2

RFi =
GS (dB )

N i ( N i + 1 opt ) Ni +1
gs

= 0.24
Cs Rs

Next we calculate data for several input section constant gain circles . 1.0 1.5 1.7 0.805 0.904 0.946 0.52 600 0.56 600 0.58 600 0.300 0.205 0.15

(a)

(b) We see that the GS = 1.7dB gain circle just intersects the FC = 2dB noise figure circle and that any higher gain will result in a worse noise figure . From the Smith Chart , the optimum solution is then S = 0.53750 which yields GS = 1.7dB and FC = 2dB .
* For the output section , we choose L = S 22 = 0.5600 for a maximum

GL

of G L =

1 1 S 22
2

= 1.33 = 1.25dB

The transistor gain is

Go = S 21 = 3.61 = 5.58dB
2

The overall transducer gain is

GTU = G S + GO + G L = 1.7 + 5.58 + 1.25 = 8.53dB

A complete AC circuit for the amplifier , using open - circuited shunt stubs in the matching sections , is shown in the figure .

Example : The scattering and noise parameters of a GaAs FET measured at three different optimum bias settings at f=6GHz are : Minimum Noise Figure (VDS = 3.5V , I DS = 15% I DSS ) :
S11 = 0.674 152 0 Fmin = 2.2dB
S12 = 0.0756.2 0
S 21 = 1.7436.4 0
S 22 = 0.6 92.6 0

O = 0.575 138 0
R N = 6.64

Linear Power Output(VDS = 4V , I DS = 50% I DSS )

S11 = 0.641 171.30 Fmin = 2.9dB

S12 = 0.05716.30

O = 0.542 1410

S 21 = 2.05828.50

R N = 9.42

S 22 = 0.572 95.7 0

Maximum Gain (VDS = 4V , I DS = 100% I DSS )

S11 = 0.614 167.4 0

S12 = 0.046650

S 21 = 2.18732.4 0
S 22 = 0.716 830

Design a microwave transistor amplifier to have good ac performance . Solution : There are four ac performances that must be considered : noise figure , power gain , power output , and input and output VSWR . The linear power- output bias point (VDS = 4V , I DS = 50% I DSS ) provides a good compromise between the minimum noise figure and maximum gain . At this bias point , the Table gives the noise , gain , and power parameters . The output power performance , measured ant the 1-dB compression point , was experimentally measured and it is given in the figure . The data for the output power were taken with an input power drive of 8.3dBm Noise Parameters Gain Parameters Power Parameters
O = 0.542 1410
Ms = 0.762177.30 ML = 0.718103.9 0

Ps = 0.7291660
PL = 0.4891010 F = 3.69 dB
G P = 8.2dB

L = 0.575104.50 Fmin = 2.9dB

G A = 9.33dB

F = 4.44dB
G A,max = 11.38dB

P1dB = 9.3dBm

P1dB = 13.4dBm

P1dB = 15.5dBm

The input VSWR with S = Ms is 1 , and the VSWR =3.82 with S = O . In order to calculate the VSWR , we obtained a (in the next page)

and used VSWR =

1 + a 1 a

Trade - offs between noise figure , power gain , and VSWR Last Figure shows the noise figure , G A and input and output VSWR as the reflection coefficient is varied from O to Ms , along a straight line , in the Smith Chart . The table shows that a good compromise between noise figure , G A , and VSWR is to use S = 0.6141600 and

L = 0.6271060 . The noise figure is increased by 0.24dB from the

minimum noise , but G A is increased by 1.22dB and the input VSWR is improved by 40% (i.e. , VSWR =2.28) . The ac schematic of the amplifier for the selected values of S and L is shown in next Figure and the microstrip board layout is also shown . The board material is Duroik ( r =2.23 , h=0.031 in.) . The measured characteristics of the amplifier are shown in next page .

Figure : (a) The ac schematic of the amplifier with ff =1 ; (b) microstrip layout with two different dc bias networks.

(c) (d) Figure : Measured characteristics of the amplifier : (a) gain performance ; (b) noise performance ; ( c) input - output VSWR performance ; (d) wideband gain performance . Reference : A 6GHz amplifier using the HFET -1101 GaAs FET HP Application Note 970 . Balanced Amplifiers

Figure 4.4.5 Balanced amplifier configuration . Why use balanced ? In broadband amplifiers , the design of compensated matching networks to obtain gain flatness results in impedance mismatching that can significantly degrade the input and output VSWR . The balanced configuration can be used to improve the I/O VSWR (Return Loss) . The I/O couplers are 3dB hybrids (usually 90 0 hybrids) (i.e. .
S11 =
S 22 =

hybrids) 4

1 S11a S11b 2
1 S 22 a S 22b 2

S12 =
S 21 =

1 S12 a + S12 b 2
1 S 21a S 21b 2

S12 : reverse power loss

S 21
2

: forward power gain

Where a and b indicate the two amplifiers and 1 and 2 refer to the input and output ports of the balanced amplifiers . If the two amplifiers are identical , then S11 =0 and S 22 =0 and the gain

S 21 (and also S12 ) is equal to the gain of one side amplifier .

Ref . K.Kurokawa , Design theory of balanced transistor amplifiers , pp . 1675-1698 . BSTJ , OCT . 1965 . BSTJ : Bell System Technical

Journal .