Low-frequency noise conversion modeling in RF devices under forced nonlinear operation: Research Articles

Abstract

The article addresses the frequency conversion of low-frequency noise deriving from trap-assisted generation-recombination (GR) noise in RF devices under forced, nonlinear operation through a physics-based noise model. The superposition of the stationary (small-signal) GR spectra originating from noninteracting trap levels with properly distributed energies is shown, in simple yet significant device case studies, to yield a 1/f or 1/f-like behaviour over a prescribed frequency range. The same trap distribution is also exploited for large-signal, cyclostationary noise simulation in forced periodic conditions. In this case, low-frequency 1/f-like noise is shown to be upconverted from the baseband to all noise sidebands. Circuit-level compact modeling strategies for noise-frequency conversion based on the modulation of small-signal low-frequency noise are also investigated and compared to the fundamental approach. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2006.