Prepared by Mehrdad Fahimnia, Ph.D., University of Waterloo, Center for Intelligent Antenna and Radio Systems (CIARS); in co-operation with CMC Microsystems.
This application note presents a common noise figure measurement technique based on the Y factor method that uses the noise figure of the multi-stage system. For measuring noise figure in the 50 - 110 GHz mm-wave range, the output signal is down-converted to an intermediate frequency before measuring. This application note describes the steps for an accurate and successful noise figure mm-wave measurement on 2-port devices using a 3 GHz Agilent noise figure analyzer.
