DEDICATED INSTRUMENTATION FOR HIGH SENSITIVITY, LOW FREQUENCY NOISE MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS

Abstract

Low Frequency Noise Measurements (LFNM) can be used as very sensitive tool for the characterization of the quality and the reliability of electron devices. However, especially in those cases in which the frequency range of interest extends below 1 Hz, instrumentation with an acceptable low level of background noise is not easily found on the market. In fact, at very low frequencies, the flicker noise introduced by the electronic components which make up the instrumentation becomes predominant and several interesting phenomena which could be detected by means of LFNM may result completely hidden in the background noise. This consideration is not limited to the case of input preamplifiers but does extend to any piece of instrumentation that contributes to the LFNM systems, and in particular to the power supplies used for biasing the Device Under Test. During the last few years, our research groups have been strongly involved in the design of very low noise instrumentation for application in the field of LFNM. In this work we report the main results which we have obtained together with a discussion of the design guidelines that have allowed us, in a few cases, to reach noise levels not to be equalled by any instrumentation available on the market.