Development of a low frequency noise measurement setup

Syed A. Malik

Abstract

Low-frequency noise measurement is a scientific technique which is capable of probing down to localized microscopic phenomena of electron devices. It can be used as a diagnostic tool in application concerning the reliability of electron devices. In this research, a low-frequency noise measurement (LFNM) setup to measure 1/f noise is designed, developed and validated. The measurement setup consists of a biasing circuit, a transimpedance amplifier and a dynamic signal analyzer. Two metal boxes were used to shield the setup from signal interference. A LabView-based program is developed to extract the noise power spectral density data from the dynamic signal analyzer for further analysis. Validation of the measurement setup was made by measuring the thermal noise of two standard resistors. The obtained results were similar to the theoretical values. Keywords low-frequency noise measurement, 1/f noise, noise power spectral density

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