Noise Modules

Noise measurements allow the determination of the four Noise Parameters of a device (transistor). Focus’ Noise Modules integrate well with various third party noise receivers.

Noise Parameters: These are four numbers that fully describe the noise behaviour of an active or passive device (twoport) at a given frequency. For practical reasons we use the following quantities as Noise Parameters:

Focus’ noise parameter extraction routines leverage the PNA-X’s unique implementation
of the cold-source noise figure measurement technique. This specific technique requires a noise source to determine the kBG (gain-bandwidth constant) of the system and a passive mechanical tuner is used to characterize the noise receiver across both the impedance and frequency space. This step is imperative to obtain fully vector-source-corrected measurements.

A RF down conversion stage might be required if the frequency of noise measured exceeds the receiver’s bandwidth. Focus offers noise modules which support down conversion for optimal speed and performance.