DB

AM-PM noise types

le: amp-noise-tree

AM-PM noise

parametric

noise originates near DC

additive

noise originates around !0

environmental temperature 50 Hz B elds

internal

environmental

internal

RF leakage

white

icker (1/f) power supply acoustic drift radiation rnd walk (1/f2)

DB

The difference between additive and parametric noise

additive noise
u(t) input v(t) u(t)
AM PM

parametric noise
v(t)
noise-free amplier

z(t)

noise-free amplier
RF noise, close to !0

output

input x(t) y(t)

output

near-dc noise

PSD

(noise)

PSD

Sz(f)

(output)

Sv(f)

(noise)

Sy(f)

(output)

Sv(f)

le: amp-add-vs-param

(input)

Su(f)

on rsi e nv co pu

sum

(input)

Su(f)

!
stopband passband

!
stopband passband

!0

stopband

!0

stopband

the noise sidebands are independent of the carrier

the noise sidebands are proportional to the carrier

DB

White noise in cascaded ampliers

White noise is chiey the noise of the rst stage

kT0

(F11)kT0

(F21)kT0

(F31)kT0

input
le: amp-cascaded-Friis

F1

A1

F2

A2

F3

A3

output
Friis formulae
H. T. Friis, Proc. IRE 32 p.419-422, jul 1944 Noise is chiey that of the 1st stage

(F3 1)kT0 (F2 1)kT0 + + ... Ne = F1 kT0 + 2 2 A2 A1 A2 1 (F2 1) (F3 1) F = F1 + + 2 2 A2 + . . . A1 A2 1 F kT0 b0 = P0

white phase noise

F1 kT0 (F2 1)kT0 (F3 1)kT0 b0 = + + + ... 2P 2 A2 P P0 A1 0 A2 1 0

Friis formula for phase noise

DB

Parametric noise in cascaded ampliers

There is a nonlinear model that gives exactly the same results, see Chap. 2 of E. Rubiola, Phase Noise and Frequency Stability in Oscillators, Cambridge 2008, ISBN 978-0521-88677-2

u(t) input

!1
AM

"1
PM noise-free amplier

!2
AM

"2
PM noise-free amplier

v(t) output ! = !1 + !2 " = "1 + "2

x1(t)

y1(t) ampli 1

x2(t)

y2(t) ampli 2

le: cascaded-ampli

Flicker: the two amplifiers are independent

E{2 } = E{2 } + E{2 } 1 2 = 1 + 2 = 1 + 2

2

2 2 E{2 } = E{1 } + E{2 }

S = S 1 + S 2 S = S 1 + S 2

Environment: a single process drives the two amplifiers

Yet there can be a time constant, not necessarily the same for the two devices

E{2 } = E{(1 + 2 )2 }

E{ } = E{(1 + 2 ) }
2

DB

Flicker noise in parallel ampliers

u1 (t) A1 v1 (t) 1 mway power combiner

E. Rubiola, Phase Noise and Frequency Stability in Oscillators, Cambridge 2008, ISBN 978-0521-88677-2

input vi (t)

mway power divider

uk (t)

Ak

vk (t) k

output vo(t)

um(t)

Am

vm(t) m

The phase icker coefcient b1 is about independent of power The icker of a branch is not increased by splitting the input power At the output, 1 the carrier adds up coherently b1 = b1 cell the phase noise adds up statistically m Hence, the 1/f phase noise is reduced by a factor m Only the icker noise can be reduced in this way

DB

Volume law
The analysis of the parallel amplier suggests that:

For a given technology, the icker coefcient b1 should be proportional to the inverse of the volume of the active region

Gedankenexperiment
- Flicker is of microscopic origin because it has Gaussian PDF (central limit theorem) - Join the m branches of a parallel device forming a compound - Phase icker is proportional to the inverse size of the amplier active region

DB

Parametric noise in regenerative ampliers

R. Boudot, E. Rubiola, arXiv:1001.2047v1, Jan 2010. Submitt. IEEE Transact. MTT

RF filter

Vin

A0

Vout

A0 A= 1 A0
A = Am 0 Am1 1 = 0 m A0

feedback
short delay
le: amp-regen-sch

phase adj.

ampl. adj.

1010

S!(f)

[rad2/Hz]

roundtrip 1019 rad2/Hz (few roundtrips) carrier

1015

10 1 1 /f (b 1 /f )

1016 (b0)

A0 ej A 1 A0 ej A0 1 A= 1+j . 1 A0 1 A0
f

1020

le: amp-regen-mecha

1kHz

1MHz

1GHz

Short roundtrip time, vs. icker time frame Quasi-static analysis holds

1 (t) = (t) 1 A0 2 1 (b1 )ampli (b1 )RA = 1 A0 (b1 )RA = m2 (b1 )ampli

Measurement methods
Saturated mixer (common laboratory practice)
3 dB

DUT
atten 90 adj LO

IF

LNA

Bridge (interferometer)
V0 cos(!0t)

pump

0
hybrid junction

90

bridge
DUT

hybrid junction

(microwave) error amplier

FFT analyzer

atten

atten

RF

x(t)
coherent detector

90 dark 0 0 90

90 0 0 90

#(t) null

y(t)
PM noise

phase & ampl. adjustment

x(t) cos(!0t) y(t) sin(!0t)

File: bridge

E. Rubiola, V. Giordano, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 73(6) pp.2445-2457, June 2002

FFT

"(t)

AM noise

DB

Flicker noise of some ampliers

R. Boudot, E. Rubiola, arXiv:1001.2047v1, Jan 2010. Submitt. IEEE Transact. MTT

10

Amplier AML812PNB1901 AML412L2001 AML612L2201 AML812PNB2401 AFS6 JS2 SiGe LPNT32 Avantek UTC573 Avantek UTO512

Frequency (GHz) 8 12 4 12 6 12 8 12 8 12 8 12 3.5 0.01 0.5 0.0050.5

Gain (dB) 22 20 22 24 44 17.5 13 14.5 21

P1 dB (dBm) 17 10 10 26 16 13.5 11 13 8

F (dB) 7 2.5 2 7 1.2 1.3 1 3.5 2.5

DC bias 15 V, 425 mA 15 V, 100 mA 15 V, 100 mA 15 V, 1.1A 15 V, 171 mA 15 V, 92 mA 2 V, 10 mA 15 V, 100 mA 15 V, 23 mA

b1 (meas.) (dBrad2 /Hz) 122 112.5 115.5 119 105 106 130 141.5 137

DB

Phase noise, dBrad 2 /Hz

Phase noise vs. power

100

11
P=50dBm P=60dBm P=70dBm P=80dBm

Amplifier X9.020H at 4.2 K

Data from IEEE UFFC 47(6):1273 (2000)
.

110

P=80dBm

The 1/f phase noise b1 is about independent of power The white noise b0 scales as the inverse of the power The corner frequency is misleading because it depends on power
R. Boudot, PhD thesis Measured at LAAS

120

P=70dBm P=60dBm P=50dBm

E. Rubiola, Phase Noise and Frequency Stability in Oscillators, Cambridge 2008, ISBN 978-0521-88677-2

130 1

101

102

103 104 Fourier frequency, Hz

105

R. Boudot, E. Rubiola, arXiv:1001.2047v1, Jan 2010. Submitt. IEEE Transact. MTT

DB

Phase noise in cascaded ampliers

R. Boudot, E. Rubiola, arXiv:1001.2047v1, Jan 2010. Submitt. IEEE Transact. MTT

12

The expected icker of a cascade increases by: 3 dB, with 2 ampliers 4.8 dB, with 3 ampliers White noise is limited by the (small) input power

DB

Phase noise in parallel ampliers

R. Boudot, E. Rubiola, arXiv:1001.2047v1, Jan 2010. Submitt. IEEE Transact. MTT

13

Connecting two amplier in parallel, a 3 dB reduction of icker is expected

DB

Flicker noise in parallel ampliers

140
AML812PNA0901 (100mA) AML812PNB0801 (200mA)

14

E. Rubiola, Phase Noise and Frequency Stability in Oscillators, Cambridge 2008, ISBN 978-0521-88677-2

Phase noise, dBrad 2 /Hz

150

AML812PNC0801 (400mA)

160
AML812PND0801 (800mA)

170 101 102 103 105 Fourier frequency, Hz

phase noise vs. f , Hz 103 104 150.0 158.0 152.5 160.5 155.0 163.0 157.5 165.5 dBrad2 /Hz

104

106

Specication of low phase-noise ampliers (AML web page) amplier AML812PNA0901 AML812PNB0801 AML812PNC0801 AML812PND0801 unit gain 10 9 8 8 dB parameters F bias power 6.0 100 9 6.5 200 11 6.5 400 13 6.5 800 15 dB mA dBm 102 145.0 147.5 150.0 152.5 105 159.0 161.5 164.0 166.5

DB

Phase noise of a regenerative amplier

R. Boudot, E. Rubiola, arXiv:1001.2047v1, Jan 2010. Submitt. IEEE Transact. MTT

15

Indirect measurement: The RA replaces the two-stage sustaining amplier in a Opto-Electronic oscillator

Thanks to K.Volyianskiy for the OEO noise spectrum

A RA is set for the gain of two cascaded ampliers As expected, the RA icker is 3 dB higher than the two ampliers Indirect measurement through the frequency icker

DB

Environmental effects in RF ampliers

Amplier phase noise
courtesy of J. Ackermann N8UR, http://www.febo.com comments on noise are of E. Rubiola

16

E. Rubiola, Phase Noise and Frequency Stability in Oscillators, Cambridge 2008, ISBN 978-0521-88677-2

It is experimentally observed that the temperature fluctuations cause a spectrum S(f) or S(f) of the 1/f5 type Yet, at low frequencies the spectrum folds back to 1/f

5 f 5 f 5 f

Spectracom 8140T b1 = 113.5 dB HP 5087A and TADD-1 10 MHz b1 = 133 dB

b1 is the 1/f noise coefcient in dBrad2/Hz (dBc/Hz + 3 dB)

HP 5

D TA

087

D-

background b1 = 142 dB TADD-1 5 MHz b1 = 138.5 dB

814

D TA 1 D-

0T

DB

Correlation between AM and PM noise

R. Boudot, E. Rubiola, arXiv:1001.2047v1, Jan 2010. Submitt. IEEE Transact. MTT

17

u(t)
AM PM

input

noise-free amplier

v(t) output

The need for this model comes from the physics of popular ampliers
Bipolar transistor. The uctuation of the carriers in the base region acts on the base thickness, thus on the gain, and on the capacitance of the reverse-biased basecollector junction. Field-effect transistor. The uctuation of the carriers in the channel acts on the drain-source current, and also on the gatechannel capacitance because the distance between the `electrodes' is affected by the channel thickness. Laser amplier. The uctuation of the pump power acts on the density of the excited atoms, and in turn on gain, on maximum power, and on refraction index.

c x(t)

d y(t)

correlated z(t) noise

le: AM-PM-correl

a=b=0.7 c=d=0

a=0.4 b=0.4 c=0.2 d=0.8

a=0.4 b=0.92 c=d=0

a=b=0 c=d=0.7 a2 + b2 + c2 + d2 = 1

AM and PM uctuations are correlated because originate from the same near-dc random process

Conclusions
The model predicts the noise of the amplier and of networks First noise model of the regenerative (positive-feedback) amplier Experimental data validate the model Correlation between AM noise and PM noise (needs further work)
Thanks to K.Volyanskiy for the measurement of the OEO noise, to Y. Gruson for help with phase noise measurements, to P. Salzenstein and to V. Giordano for support and discussions. This work results from a long-term transverse program on oscillators and frequency synthesis, supported by the following contracts: ANR-05-BLAN-0135-02, CNES 60265/00, CNES 60281/00, ESA 20135/06/D/MRP, LNE/DRST 08 7 002.

18

R. Boudot, E. Rubiola, arXiv:1001.2047v1, Jan 2010. Submitt. IEEE Transact. MTT

home page http://rubiola.org