Electronics design II

Answers 4. Noise
H1. Estimate the SNR of the output signal when the sinusoidal signal Vh is
Vh=707mVsin(2fh) and the uncorrelated noise signals are Vn1=0.1VRMS and
Vn2=0.2VRMS. (134dB, 127dB)

Vn1
Vn1
Vout Vn2 Vout

Vh Vh

a) b)
Fig. 1. Noise model of the system

a) SNR can be calculated by using equation (from the course book)

2
 V h ( RMS ) V-------------------
h ( RMS )
SNR = 10  log  ------------------
-  = 20  log 
 V n ( RMS )
2 V n ( RMS )

Now the RMS-amplitude of sinusoidal signal is 707mV/sqrt(2)= 500mVRMS.

So the SNR is

SNR = 20  log  ----------------- = 134 0dB

500mV
 0 1V 

b) Because of uncorrelated noise signals, the total noise signal can be calcu-
lated by using the noise powers of noise signals =>

2 2 2
Vntot ( RMS ) = Vn1 ( RMS ) + Vn2 ( RMS )

and Vntot(RMS) is

2 2 2 2
Vntot ( RMS ) = Vn1 ( RMS ) + V n2 ( RMS ) = ( 0 1V ) + ( 0 2V ) = 0 22VRMS

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 So the SNR is

SNR = 20  log  ------------------- = 127 0dB

500mV
0 22V

If the noise signal would be 0,2VRMS in the a), the SNR was

SNR = 20  log  ----------------- = 128dB

500mV
0 2V

So the effect of an additional noise signal 0.1VRMS in the b) is only 1 dB. This
means that the SNR is determined by Vn2 in practise. To minimize the total
noise of the system the biggest noise source has to be minimized.

Recognize the biggest noise source and minimize that!!!

H2. Define the coefficients Kv and Vnw so that the equation below describes the noise
density shown in Fig.6. The noise is filtered using LP-filter, FLP=15kHz. Estimate
the noise power of the filtered signal (V2n filtered (6.2V)2).
2
2 K 2
V n ( f ) = -------v- + V nw
f

Fig. 6. Noise spectral density.

2
2 K 2
Vn ( f ) = -----v- + Vnw
f

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 Kv and Vnw can be determined from fig. 6. We get Kv= 400nV and Vnw
40nVHz-0.5. So the noise spectral density V2n(f) can be written as

2 2
2 400 ( nV ) 2 2 –1
Vn ( f ) = -------------------------- + 40 ( nV ) Hz
f

The noise power can be derived by integrating first 1/f-noise from 1 to 100Hz
(1/f-noise corner frequency). The noise power of 1/f-noise is

100
2 2
400 ( nV )

2 2 2
V 1 = -------------------------- df = 400 ( nV )  ( ln ( 100 ) – ln ( 1 ) )
n --- f
f 1

2 2 2 –13 2
V 1 = 400 ( nV )  ln ( 100 ) = 7 4  10 V
n ---
f

and then the noise power of thermal noise can be derived by integrating the
thermal noise from 100Hz to noise bandwidth. The corner frequency of the LP-
filter is 15kHz, so the noise bandwidth is 0.515000Hz =23.6kHz. The
noise power of thermal noise is

2 2 2 –1 –11 2
V nth = 40 ( nV ) Hz   23 6kHz – 100Hz  = 3 76  10 V

and the total noise power is

V2n1/f +V2nth=3,83* 10-11V2=(6,2V)2.

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H3. The dominating noise sources of the differential pair shown in Fig. 7 are shown
in Fig. 8. The input referred noise density can be modeled using the equation given
in the previous task. Define the values of the coefficients K2v and V2nw. What is
the frequency above which the thermal noise is the dominant noise contributor.
The gm’s and the dimensions of the transistors are given in Table 1. Kfpmos=2,6x10-
25 2
V F, Kfpmos=1,3x10-25V2F ja Kfnmos=2,6x10-25V2F . You may ignore the noise
mechanisms of the transistors M1 and M2. k=1,38x10-23JK-1, T=300K.(K2v=2,4e-
12V2, V2nw=9, 0e-17V2Hz-1, fc=27kHz)
+5V
W=100m W=100m
L=1m L=1m
M1 M2

M3 W=200 m M4
L=2m Vin-
Iref Vin+

Vout

M5 M6
W=100m W=100m
GND L=2m L=2 m

Fig. 7. CMOS-differential pair

Vbias
M2

M3 M4
Vin-
Vin+
Vn3 Vn4

Vout

M5 Vn5 Vn6 M6

Fig. 8. The dominating noise sources of the differential pair.

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 Table 1

W L W/L WL Id gm
M1 100m m 100m/m=100 1.0x10-10m2 100A 775S

M2 100m m 100m/m=100 1.0x10-10m2 100A 775S

M3 200m m 200m/m=100 4.0x10-10m2 50A 550S

M4 200m m 200m/m=100 4.0x10-10m2 50A 550S

M5 100m m 100m/m=50 2.0x10-10m2 50A 680S

M6 100m m 100m/m=50 2.0x10-10m2 50A 680S

The total input referred noise density can be calculated by calculating first the
the noise densities of all noise sources separately at the output of the differen-
tial pair. Now the noise sources Vn3 and Vn4 are amplified by the amplification
of the differential pair gmM3Rout= gmM3/(gdsM4+gdsM6). The noise sources Vn5 and
Vn6 are amplified by the amplification of the gmM5Rout. So the noise of the out-
put of the differentialm pair can be written as

2 2 2 2 2
Vno ( f ) = 2 ( g mM3 Rout ) Vn3 ( f ) + 2 ( g mM5 Rout ) V n5 ( f )

and the input referred noise can be calculated by dividing the output noise by
the square of the amplifigation of the differntial pair =>

2 2 2 2
2 2 ( g mM3 R out ) V n3 ( f ) + 2 ( g mM5 R out ) V n5 ( f )
V nin ( f ) = ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2
-
( g mM3 R out )

g mM5 2
Vnin ( f ) = 2Vn3 ( f ) + 2  ------------- Vn5 ( f )
2 2 2
g mM3

The thermal noise of MOS transistors can be written as

Vnth ( f ) = 4kT  ---  ------

2 2 1
3 gm

and 1/f noise can be written as

2 Kf 1
V 1 ( f ) = ----------------
-  ---
n --- WLC ox f
f

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 So the thermal input referred noise can be written as

gmM5 2
Vninth ( f ) =  ------ kT  ------------- +  ------ kT  -------------  ------------
2 16 1 16 1
-
3 g mM3 3 g mM5 gmM3

Because the gm can be derived by using formula

W
gm = 2Cox I d -----
L,

2 Kf 1
V 1 ( f ) = ----------------
-  ---
n --- WLC ox f
Now inserting f as place of every noise noise Vn32 and
Vn52 in below

g mM5 2
Vnin ( f ) = 2Vn3 ( f ) + 2  ------------- Vn5 ( f )
2 2 2
g mM3

the 1/f input referred noise can be written as

2 1 2 K fPMOS   n  K fNMOS L3

Vnin1  f ( f ) = ---  -------- -----------------
- +  -----   ------------------------
f C ox W 3 L3 p  W 3 L25 

Now the coefficients K2v and V2nw can be derived as

g mM5 2
Vnw = Vninth ( f ) =  ------ kT  ------------- +  ------ kT  -------------  ------------
2 2 16 1 16 1
-
3 g mM3 3 g mM5 g mM3

and

2 2 K fPMOS  n  K fNMOS L3

- + -----   ------------------------
Kv = -------- -----------------
C ox W3 L3  p  W L2 
3 5

So

2
2 –17 V
V nw = 9 0  10 -------
Hz

and

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 2 –12 2
Kv = 2 4  10 V

The corner frequency where the thermal noise starts to be dominant noise
source can be calculated as

2
Kv 2
------ = Vnw
f

and

2
Kv
f c = --------
2
- = 27kHz
V nw

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