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Comparative analysis of receiver bandwidth effects on Y-factor and cold-source noise figure measurements

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 July 2013

Nerea Otegi ,
Juan-Mari Collantes  and
Mohamed Sayed
Nerea Otegi*
Affiliation:
Electricity and Electronics Department, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Apdo. 644, 48080 Bilbao, Spain. Phone: +34 946015944
Juan-Mari Collantes
Affiliation:
Electricity and Electronics Department, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Apdo. 644, 48080 Bilbao, Spain. Phone: +34 946015944
Mohamed Sayed
Affiliation:
Microwave&Millimeter Wave Solutions, Santa Rosa, CA 95404, USA
*
Corresponding author: N. Otegi Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

A known source of error in noise figure characterization is the variation of the device characteristics within the bandwidth of the instrument receiver. In this paper, an in-depth analysis of the effect of the receiver bandwidth on noise figure characterization accuracy is developed. For the first time, comparative results for Y-factor and cold-source techniques are given. The analysis clarifies some contradictions about the origin and the final impact of bandwidth effects in Y-factor. In addition, effects derived from an excessively wide bandwidth of the noise receiver are shown to be completely different in both techniques, being more critical in cold-source. As a result of the analysis, correction terms are provided for those cases in which receivers with narrow enough bandwidths are not available. The conclusions extracted from the theoretical formulation are confirmed by the measurements carried out on several narrow-band devices under tests with different characteristics.

Keywords

Microwave measurementsModelingSimulation and characterizations of devices and circuitsNoise figure measurement
Type
Research Papers
Information
International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies , Volume 5 , Issue 6 , December 2013 , pp. 659 - 667
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and the European Microwave Association 2013 

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