A near-DC measurement and modelling of low-frequency noise in electronic components

Abstract

Low-frequency noise, generated inherently by the number or mobility fluctuation of carriers, is a crucial concern for the design of analog and digital circuits. Unified modelling based on experimental validation of near-DC noise in amplifiers is a long-standing open problem. This article develops a model for low-frequency noise by deriving new bounds for carrier capturing and releasing. According to the proposed model, a measurement system is suggested that operates in a wide frequency range and even at very low frequencies. The system is noise-tolerant, since the amplifier is selected based on acceptable noise levels. Among the advantages are the independence from specialized structural noise models for each component and the low cost of the measurement system. The evaluation results show that the proposed method leads to a promising improvement in the low-frequency noise measuring and is superior to conventional models in the normalized root mean square error indicator. Findings reveal that the proposed measurement method can estimate the flicker noise around the DC frequency, and the proposed model agrees reasonably with the proposed measurement circuit.