Noise

Introduction
Inherent Noise Refers to ramdom noise signals that can be reduced but never eleminated. Can be reduced through proper circuit design such as changing the circuit structure of increasing the power consumption Interference Noise Unwanted interaction between the circuit and the outside world or between different parts of the circuit it self. Can be reduced significantly by careful wiring and layout

Why should we study noise

Because noise represents a lower limit to the size of electrical signal (min. detectable signal) that can be amplified by a circuit without significant deterioration in signal quality Noise results in upper limit to the useful gain of an amplifier because if gain is increased without limit, then due to noise fluctuations at output node, transistors may go to linear region

Noise is a random process. Signal whose value cannot be predicted precisely but, only in terms of probabilistic description, such as mean value or mean squared value. Noise can be characterized both in time and frequency domains, with the latter providing a more versatile representation.

Energy Signals
Strength of the signal is computed by amplitude and duration of a signal. So, area under a signal f(t) gives possible measure of its size A signal with finite energy is an energy signal.

Ef =

2 | f ( t ) | dt

Constraint: Energy to be finite, signal amplitude tends to zero as |t| tends to infinity, else integral will not converge.

Power Signals
Since the averaging is over an infinitely large interval, a signal with finite energy has zero power. A signal with infinite energy has finite powerpower signal
1 Pf = lim | f (t ) |2 dt T T T /2
T /2

Spectrum Analyzer
A spectrum analyzer (SA) is an instrument for evaluating the spectral content of a signal. The input of SA is multiplied by a sinusoid to frequency shift the input signal. After the multiplication, the BPF limits the range of frequencies to a BW of fres (resolution BW of the measurement).

Noise-Random signal Value of noise signal cannot be predicted at any time even if past values are known

How to estimate Noise? Observe noise for a long time Using measured results, prepare a statistical model Extract useful properties (here, noise power) from this model that can be predicted Use noise power for doing noise analysis

The CUT is connected to a spectrum analyzer with no source signal applied. Plot the Spectrum and measure the rms noise. Noise is always measured at the output.

Noise Equivalent Bandwidth

Noise bandwidth of a given filter is equal to the frequency span of a brick-wall filter that has the same output noise rms value that the given filter has when white noise is applied to both filters (peak gains are the same for the given and brick-wall filters). Example: Consider a low-pass filter with 3dB BW of f3dB.

The advantage of knowing the noise bandwidth of a filter is that, when white noise is applied to the filter, the total output noise mean-squared value is easily calculate by multiplying the spectral density by the noise bandwidth.

Noise trades with 1 Power Dissipation 2 Speed 3 Linearity Noise in time Domain Rms value, SNR, dBm, and noise summation. Noise due to its origins, is quantified as a random process. In the time domain a mean squared value is used irrespective of whether the noise quantity is current or voltage.

RMS VALUE Consider a noise voltage, vn(t), or a noise current in(t), The rms voltage is defined as

Where, T is a suitable averaging time interval. rms current is defined as;

The benefit in knowing the rms value of a signal is that it indicates the normalized noise power of a signal. Specifically, if the random signal vn(t) is applied to a 1- resistor, the average power dissipated, Pdiss, in watts, equals the normalized noise power and is given by;

The above relationship implies that the power dissipated by a resistor is the same whether a random signal or a dc level of k volts (rms) is applied across it.

Similarly, for a noise current. In(t), applied to a 1- resitor,

As a result, the square of the rms values, v2n(rms) and i2n(rms) , are sometimes referred to as the normalized noise powers.

SNR
The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) value (in dB) of a signal node in a system is defined as;

Thus , assuming a node in a circuit consists of a signal, vx(t), that has a normalized signal power of v2x(rms) and a normalized noise power of v2n(rms), the SNR is given by;

When rms values of the noise and signal are same, then SNR = 0

Units of dBm
Although dB units relate to the relative ratio of two power levels, it is often useful to know a signals power in dB on an absolute scale. One common measure is that of dBm, where all power levels are referenced by 1 mW. In other words, a 1mW signal corresponds to 0 dBm, whereas a1W signal corresponds to -30 dBm. When voltage levels are measured, it is also common to reference the voltage level to the equivalent power dissipated if the volatge is applied across either a 50 or a 75 resistor.

Example

NOISE SUMMATION
Consider the case of two noise sources added together. If the rms values of each individual noise source are known, then what is the rms value of combined signal.

Where, vn1(t) and vn2(t) are two noise sources with known rms values vn1(rms) and vn2(rms), respectively.

The first two terms are the individual mean-squared values of the noise sources. The last term shows the correlation between two signal sources. We define a correlation coefficient, C, as

Correlation Coefficient always satisfies the condition -1 C 1. Also, a value of C = 1 implies the two signals are fully correlated, whereas C = 0 indicates the signals are uncorrelated. Values in between imply the signals are partially correlated. Two uncorrelated signals, the mean-squared value of their sum is given by;

The above relation indicates that the two mean-squared values add as though they were vectors at right angle to each other when signals are uncorrelated. An example of two fully correlated sources are two sinusoid signal that have the same frequency and a phase of 0 or 180 degrees with each other . Example 1. Two uncorrelated noise sources that have Vn1(rms) = 10V and Vn2(rms) = 5V, find the total output rms value when combined. If we are required to maintain the total rms value of 10V, how much should Vn1(rms) be reduced while Vn2(rms) remain unchained?

Types of noise
Thermal noise

Representation of thermal noise

Note that, to reduce the thermal noise due to resistors, one must either lower the temperature or use lower resistance values.

Example 1 For the ckt. Shown, determine the rms output and input-referred noise over a bandwidth from dc to 1KHz

Example 2 Calculate V2o,noise for the given circuit.

The rms value of the thermal noise in this circuit is limited by the size of the capacitor and independent of the size of the resistor. This noise property for capacitor gives a fundamental limit on the minimum noise level across a capacitor. KT/C is frequently used to determine the size of a capacitor used in filtering and sampling circuits.

MOSFET noise---thermal noise Noise generated in the channel

Noise current of a MOS transistor decreases if the transconductance drops. The noise measured at the output of the circuit does not depend on where the input terminal is because for output noise calculation, the input is set to zero.

MOS---flicker noise

The interface between the gate oxide and the silicon substrate. Daggling bonds appear, giving rise to extra energy states. Charges get trapped and later released by such energy states introducing flicker noise in the drain.

Unlike thermal noise, the average power of flicker noise cannot be predicted easily. Flicker noise is more easily modeled as a voltage source in series with the gate and is given by;

Since, the traprelease phenomenon associated with the dangling bonds occurs at low frequency more often flicker noise is also called 1/f noise.

Representation Since, 1/f noise is inversely proportional to area, low noise device have area of several thousand square microns. Although the difference is not consistently observed, the PMOS devices exhibit lower flicker noise than the NMOS transistors.

MOS noise To quantify the significance of 1/f noise with respect to thermal noise for a given device, both spectral densities are plotted on the same graph.

Noise corner frequency

Device Noise versus Circuit Noise

A circuit contains noise at its output due to the various noisy elements that it is built with. For example, an amplifier will have output noise due to the load resistor/transistor and due to the input transistor.

To calculate the total noise of a circuit at its output, we would need to consider the noise contributed by the various device elements (due to their microscopic behavior) and find out how they appear at the output - essentially we would need to consider the transfer function from the point of origin of noise (device) to the point of interest (output).

Computation of Noise in circuits

Output noise / Hz

Representation of Circuit Noise A working (but technically incomplete) definition of noise in a circuit is to remove the signal input to the circuit and measure the output. Whatever appears at the output in the absence of a signal can be considered to be noise contribution. However, for an LTI system there can be no output generated if no input is provided. To maintain sanctity of the LTI system, the noise appearing at the output needs to be modeled as a fictitious source at the input. This is known as input referred noise.

It cannot be stressed enough that this input referred noise source has no physical existence and is purely a representation conforming to the LTI system. The advantage of the input referred noise model is that it provides a common platform to compare the noise performance of two amplifiers. Note that the input referred noise gives a lower limit on the dynamic range of the amplifier, i.e. the lowest valid signal that the amplifier can faithfully detect (and amplify).

We have assumed that the input-referred noise can be modeled by a single voltage source in series with the input. This is generally an incomplete representation if the circuit has a finite impedance and is driven by a finite source impedance. The Input-refereed thermal noise voltage is given by

If the circuit has a fine input impedance, modeling the input-referred noise by merely a voltage source implies that the output noise vanishes as the source impedance becomes large, an incorrect conclusion. To resolve this, we model the input-referred noise by both a series voltage source and a parallel current source.

Example Calculate the input referred thermal noise voltage and current

To obtain the input referred current, we open the input and find the output noise in terms of I2n,in.

This must be equal to the output of the noisy circuit when its input is open.

Noise in Single stage Amplifier Lemma: The circuit shown below are equivalent at low frequencies if V2n = I2n/g2m and the circuits are driven by a finite impedance

Since the circuits have equal output impedance, the output short circuit currents is given by;

This lemma suggest that noise source can be transferred from drainsource current to gate series voltage for arbitrary Zs.

CSA

How to reduce input referred noise voltage

gm1 should be maximized, gm2 must be minimized