Cross-Laboratory Experimental Validation of a Tunerless Technique for the Microwave Noise Parameters Extraction

Abstract

In this article, a novel tunerless technique aimed at extracting the noise parameters of on-wafer transistors is experimentally validated. In detail, the effectiveness of the method has been confirmed by employing two different setups in two remotely located laboratories. The obtained noise parameters exhibit the level of accuracy typical of the standard source tuner-based Lane technique, without the well-known limitations due to the microwave tuner. The theoretical bases of the technique have been straightforwardly illustrated, and an extensive measurement campaign has been carried out on GaAs pHEMTs to confirm the suitability of the proposed approach. Furthermore, the technique can be applied to determine the contribution of additional thermal noise sources. The developed technique might represent the core of an automatic noise parameters’ extraction test bench.