ANALOG CIRCUITS III

ELECTRICAL NOISE
GENERAL ASPECTS
 NOISE
Noise power is a result of a random process
such as the flow of electron in a electronic
device, the propagation of signals through
the ionosphere or the thermal vibrations in
any component at a temperature above
absolute zero (thermal energy moves
electrons in a random way).
 NOISE
Performance of RF system is limited by
noise: Signal detection is more
difficult. The receiver is always
detecting noise from the environment,
so the sensitivity is limited by the
amount of noise in the band of
interest.
Broadband Definition of Noise:
Everything except the desired signal.
 NOISE
In essence, noise is defined as any electrical disturbance tending to
interfere with the normal reception of the transmitted signal. Noise
can consist of deterministic signals from unwanted sources plus
random fluctuations of voltages and currents by physical phenomena.

Noise is always present in all the communication systems, but under

normal operating conditions it goes unnoticed because the desired
signal levels are much higher than the noise levels.
 NOISE
Noise generated internally in a device or component is usually caused
by random motions of charges in materials. Some types of internal
noise are thermal noise or plasma noise.

Source: Behzad Razavi, RF Microelectronics, Book Slides. Available online.

 NOISE
External noise may be introduced
into a system either by a receiving
antenna or by electromagnetic
coupling. Some sources of external
noise include lightning, gas lamps,
RF stations (radio, TV, cellular),
microwave ovens.
 NOISE
Trouble with noise is randomness: Instantaneous values of noise n(t)
cannot be predicted in a specific time.

However, some attributes of noise can be predicted, when it is

measured in a long period of time. These results can be used to build
a statistical model of noise, giving information about average power
of noise:
 NOISE
T must be long enough to accommodate several cycles of the lowest
frequency. Instantaneous signal displays random values. Average
quadratic signal remains constant.

Source: Behzad Razavi, RF Microelectronics, Book Slides. Available online.

 NOISE SPECTRUM
Time-domain view of noise provides limited information (average
power). Frequency-domain view yields much greater insight and
proves more useful in RF design.

Power Spectral Density (PSD): Average power of a signal in a 1 Hz

bandwidth around a center frequency. PSD represents how much
power has a signal in a particular frequency
 NOISE SPECTRUM
Power Spectral Density (PSD):

The total area under

Sx(f) represents the
average power carried
by x(t).

Source: Behzad Razavi, RF Microelectronics, Book Slides. Available online.

 NOISE SPECTRUM
The most common of PSD is the white noise (or gaussian noise). Flat
behavior of white noise in the band of interest.

If a PSD is applied to a linear, time-invariant system with transfer

function H(s), the output spectrum is:

In other words, PSD assumes the shape of the squared transfer

function.
 NOISE SPECTRUM
This effect is called as noise shaping. In the situation of a LPF, output
noise takes the shape of the transfer function.

Source: Behzad Razavi, RF Microelectronics, Book Slides. Available online.

NOISE IN DEVICES
 NOISE IN RESISTORS
Thermal noise, also known as Nyquist ot Johnson noise, is caused by
the motion of charge carriers. Ambient thermal energy leads to
random agitation of charge carriers in resistors, generating noise.
This is the most prevalent noise encountered in RF systems.
Thermal noise is generated in any passive circuit element that
contain loss, such as resistors or lossy reactive elements.
 NOISE IN RESISTORS
Noise in a resistor can be modeled by a series voltage source or a
parallel current source. Polarity of sources is unimportant (random
signal), but must kept the same in all the calculations.
 NOISE IN RESISTORS
Example: Calculate the equivalent noise voltage of two parallel
resistors exposed at the same temperature.
 NOISE IN RESISTORS
Example: Calculate the equivalent noise voltage of two parallel
resistors exposed at the same temperature.
 NOISE IN RESISTORS
Example: Simulation.
 NOISE IN RESISTORS
Example: Simulation.
 NOISE IN RESISTORS
If R1 and R2 at the same temperature, no energy is transferred
between them. If the temperature of R1 is increased and R2 is held at
0 K, R1 absorbs energy from environment, convert it to noise and
deliver energy to R2. The average power transferred to R2 is:
 NOISE IN RESISTORS
The maximum transferred average power occurs when R1 = R2:

This is called as “available noise power”, and is independent of the

resistor value, and has the dimensions of power per unit bandwidth.
At a temperature of T = 300 K:
 NOISE IN RESISTORS
Example: Consider a RC circuit. Determine the output noise voltage
and the output noise power of the circuit if R = 100 Ω and C = 10 pF.
 NOISE IN RESISTORS
Example: AWR Simulation.
 NOISE IN RESISTORS
Example: AWR Simulation.
 NOISE IN RESISTORS
Exercise: Determine the output voltage noise of the circuit, if the
inductor has a finite quality factor. What is the maximum output
voltage noise?
 NOISE IN BJT
Bipolar transistors have parasitic resistances in terminals, being rb the
most important. These parasitic resistance generates thermal noise.
Also, BJT suffers from a special type of noise, called Shot Noise,
associated to the movement of charge carriers between junctions.
 NOISE IN BJT
The transconductance of a bipolar transistor:

Where is called thermal voltage.

Replacing gm:

The amount of noise of the transistor depends on the DC operating

point (IB, IC).
 NOISE IN BJT
Example: Calculate the output noise voltage of the circuit, if the
transistor has IC = 5 mA, β = 100 and rb = 5 Ω.
 NOISE IN BJT
Example: There are 5 noise sources in the amplifier:
 NOISE IN BJT
Example: Applying superposition theorem (uncorrelated noise
sources):

The output noise voltage of the amplifier:

 NOISE IN BJT
Example: Simulation.
 NOISE IN MOSFET
Thermal noise of a MOSFET in the saturation region can be modeled by
a current source between drain and source. Another component of
thermal noise arises from the parasitic gate resistance of MOSFET.

⅔<γ< 2
 NOISE IN MOSFET
MOSFET also suffer from a special type of noise, called Flicker Noise or
1/f noise (amount of noise is inversely proportional to the frequency).
This noise is modeled as a voltage source in the gate:

W and L are the dimensions of the transistor. Cox is the oxide

capacitance per area unit. K is a process fabrication constant.
 NOISE IN MOSFET
Flicker noise occurs due to trapped charges in the interface between
silicon oxide and semiconductor channel, where current carriers are
randomly captured and released.
 NOISE IN MOSFET
Equating both noise contributions (thermal and flicker noise), it is
possible to obtain a corner frequency fc:

Source: Behzad Razavi, RF Microelectronics, Book Slides. Available online.

NOISE ANALYSIS
 NOISE FIGURE
Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR): Signal power divided by the noise power.
If a circuit contains no noise, then the output SNR is equal to the input
SNR, even if the circuit acts as an attenuator (input signal and input
noise are attenuated by the same factor).
 NOISE FIGURE
To quantify how noisy a circuit is, it is necessary to define the noise
figure (NF) as:

Express the noise figure in decibels as:

Some authors define the first expression as noise factor.

 NOISE FIGURE
The noise figure is the measure of how the SNR is degraded through a
system. Replacing in terms of signal and noise powers:

No(TOT) : Sum of the output noise coming from the source and the noise
added by the device.
 NOISE FIGURE
Finally:

Minimum value of NF = 1: There is no noise generated by the circuit.

It is easily to demonstrate that:
 NOISE FIGURE
Example: Calculate the noise figure of a resistive load.

By definition, the noise figure:

 NOISE FIGURE
Example: Calculate the noise figure of a matched attenuator.
The output noise power caused by the
action of the attenuator in exactly the
same way as it would have attenuated a
signal:
 NOISE FIGURE
Example: Calculate the noise figure of a matched attenuator.
The excess of noise is dissipated in the
form of heat in the attenuator itself. The
heat dissipated in the attenuator is
therefore equivalent to the excess noise
power of the attenuator.
 NOISE FIGURE
Example: Calculate the noise figure of a matched attenuator.
The noise figure of the attenuator.

The loss factor of a lossy element

(attenuator, filter) is equivalent to its noise
factor. These elements do not receive
power from any other source than the
signal and noise applied to the input.
 NOISE FIGURE
Example: Calculate the noise figure of the amplifier, if the transistor
has IC = 5 mA, β = 100 and rb = 5 Ω.
Using the definition of NF:

The output voltage noise was calculated as:

 NOISE FIGURE
Example: Calculate the noise figure of the amplifier, if the transistor
has IC = 5 mA, β = 100 and rb = 5 Ω.
As rb < RS < rπ , you can easily prove:
 NOISE FIGURE
Example: Simulation results.
 NOISE FIGURE OF CASCADED STAGES
To calculate the NF of the overall cascade in terms of each stage:

The total output noise:

The output noise coming from the source

 NOISE FIGURE OF CASCADED STAGES
The total noise figure:

Finally:

This is known as the Friis equation, and suggests that the noise
contributed by each stage decreases as the total gain preceding the
stage increases. First stages of a receiver are the most critical.
 NOISE FIGURE OF CASCADED STAGES
Example: Determine the total noise figure of the receiver.
 SENSITIVITY
The sensitivity is defined as the minimum signal level that a receiver
can detect with acceptable quality, it means, sufficient SNR, which
depends on the type of modulation and the corruption that the system
can tolerate. In the presence of excessive noise, detected signal
becomes inintelligible.

Si is the power of the input signal per unit bandwidth.

 SENSITIVITY
The overall signal power is distributed across a certain bandwidth.
Assuming a flat spectrum for signal and noise, the total power of the
input signal:

Assuming that the receiver is matched to the antenna, the input noise
power is maximum. This was called “available noise power”:
 SENSITIVITY
Finally, the minimum input signal power that yields a given value to
obtain an output SNR:

Sum of the three first terms is the total integrated noise of the system
(known as the “noise floor”). Sensitivity of the system does not depend
directly of the gain of the system.
 SENSITIVITY

Example: A GSM receiver requires a minimum SNR of 12 dB and has a

channel bandwidth of 200 kHz. On the other hand, a WLAN receiver
specifies a minimum SNR of 23 dB and has a channel bandwidth of 20
MHz. Compare the sensitivities of these two systems if both receivers
have a total noise figure of 7 dB.
 FURTHER READINGS

● Behzad Razavi, RF Microelectronics. Chapter 2: Basic Concepts in

RF Design.
● Herbert Krauss, Solid State Radio Engineering. Chapter 2: Electrical
Noise.
● D. Pozar, Microwave Engineering. Chapter 10: Noise and Nonlinear
Distortion.
● Michael Steer, Microwave and RF Design, Volume 4: Modules.
Chapter 4: Noise.
Thanks!