F.

Kung June 2004 1

Noise Figure Calculation Exercise Using Microwave CAD Software
1.0 Derivation of Noise Figure Expression for Computer Simulation
A simple noise analysis of the resistive network is carried out.
Figure 1 A two-port resistive network.
The output voltage at Port 2 is given by:
in in
S L
L
out
V A V
R R R R
R R
V =
+ +
=
1 2
2
//
//
(1)
In equation (1) A is the effective voltage gain. Deactivating the source voltage V
in
and
considering the thermal noise from the resistors, the equivalent circuit of Figure 2 is
obtained.
Figure 2 Equivalent circuit with thermal noise source, signal source deactivated.
( )
1
4 R R kT
S
+
R
1
R
2
R
L
R
S
Port 1 Port 2
2
4kTR
V
out
V
n1
V
n2
V
in
R
1
R
2
R
L
R
S
Linear 2-port network
Port 1 Port 2
V
out
F. Kung June 2004 2
The noise sources V
n1
and V
n2
are white noise, and the Power Spectral Density (PSD) S
n1
and S
n2
which are assumed constant with respect to frequency.
( ) ( )
1 1
4 R R kT f S
S n
+ (2a)
( )
2 2
4kTR f S
n
(2b)
Assuming a bandwidth of f. Using the fact that ( )df f S V
n n

1
2
1
and
( )df f S V
n n

2
2
2
, the contribution of the noise sources individually at the output node is
given as follows:
( ) f R R kT
R R R R
R R
V V
S
S L
L
n out n out
+
+ +

1
1 2
2
2
) 1 ( ) 1 (
4
//
//
(3a)
( ) ( )
( )
( )
f kTR
R R R R
R R R
V V
L S
L S
n out n out

+ +
+

2
2 1
1
2
2 2
4
//
//
(3b)
The random process due to V
n1
and V
n2
can be combined using Superposition Theorem
for linear circuit. Since noise sources V
n1
and V
n2
are uncorrelated, the total PSD at port
2 is (See [1], Section11.4):
( ) ( ) ( ) f S f S f S
n n 2 1
+ (4a)
Or
( )
2
) 2 (
2
) 1 (
2
n out n out noise out
V V V + (4b)
This implies:
( ) ( )
[ ]
( )
( )
( )
2
1
2
1
2
2
2 1
1
2
1
1 2
2
2
) 2 (
2
) 1 (
2
4
//
//
4
//
//

'

1
]
1

+ +
+
+
1
]
1

+
+ +

+
f kTR
R R R R
R R R
f R R kT
R R R R
R R
V V V V
L S
L S
S
S L
L
n out n out noise out noise out
(5)
Not that in computing the total noise voltage, the contribution from the termination at
port 2, e.g. R
L
is not considered. The signal-to-noise ratio at the input, SNR
in
is given by:
S
in
in
kTR
V
SNR
4
2
(6)
The signal-to-noise ratio at the output, SNR
out
is given by:
( )
2
) (
2
noise out
in
out
V
V A
SNR

(7)
F. Kung June 2004 3
Thus the noise factor of the network, from (6) and (7) is:
( )
s
noise out
out
in
kTR A
V
SNR
SNR
NF
4
2
2

= = (8)
The noise figure (F) in dB is then given by

=
out
in
SNR
SNR
F
10
log 10 (9)
Equations (8) and (9) are usually employed by computer simulation software to
determine the noise figure F of a linear circuit.
2.0 Numerical Example
Let R
S
= RL = 50, R
1
= 50 and R
2
= 100. T = 25
o
C or 298K, k = 1.38010
-23
JK
-1
.
Bandwidth f = 1Hz (spot noise calculation).
Then:
pV V
n out
64 . 320 10 28256 . 1 25 . 0
9
) 1 (
= =

pV V
n out
64 . 320 10 28256 . 1 25 . 0
9
) 2 (
= =

25 . 0 = A
( )
( )
00 . 4
91 . 906 25 . 0
64 . 320 2
2 2
2

=
pV
pV
NF
( ) 02 . 6 00 . 4 log 10
10
= = F
3.0 ADS Simulation of Small-signal Noise
In ADS the noise simulation is typically performed during AC or S-parameter simulation.
Therefore it will be convenient if the noise factor NF can be expressed in terms of the S-
parameters.
Figure 3 Two-port network.
Linear 2-port
network
R2
Port 2
V
2
V
s2
V
s1
R
1
Port 1
V
2
I
1
I
2

22 21
12 11
s s
s s
F. Kung June 2004 4
Consider a two-port network as shown in Figure 3, the normalized incident and reflected
voltage waves can be defined according to Chapter 1 of [3]:
i
si
i
i i i
i
R
V
R
I R V
a
2 2
=
+
= (10a)
i
si i
i
i i i
i
R
V V
R
I R V
b
2
2
2

= (10b)
Where i = 1 or 2. When measuring parameter s
ij
, the source V
si
would be deactivated
(e.g. shorted). For s
21
:
0
1
2
21
2
=
=
a
a
b
s
Generator V
s2
= 0. Hence using the definition (10a) and (10b):

= =
2
1
1
2
2
2
2
21
2
1
1
2
2
R
R
V
V
s
s R
V
R
V
s
L
S
L
S
R
R
A
R
R
V
V
s
2
2
1
2
2
21
4 4 = = (11)
Since R
1
= R
S
, R
2
= R
L
, V
1
=V
in
and V
2
= V
out
. Now consider equation (8) again,
( )
( )
kT
R
R A
R
A kTR V
kTR A
V
NF
L
S
L
S port n
s
noise out

+
=

2
2 2
) 2 (
2
2
4
4
4
Here the total mean-square noise voltage at the output is divided into contribution from
the source resistance R
S
and the noise sources within the two-port network. V
n(2-port)
is
the noise voltage at the output due to noise sources within the two-port network. Now
using (11) this can be written as:
2
21
2
21
2
s kT
s kT
R
V
NF
L
n
+
= (12)
Equation (12) is the expression used by ADS software for noise figure computation when
noise calculation is enabled during S-parameter simulation. It can be easily extended to
multi-port network as illustrated in the online documentation in ADS.
F. Kung June 2004 5
4.0 ADS Simulation Example
Here the numerical example of Section 3.0 is repeated in ADS (version 2003C is used).
The schematic and data display are shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5 respectively. The
S-parameter is performed at a single frequency of 1.0GHz.

Figure 4 The schematic and Noise tab setting in the S-parameter control.
Figure 5 The data display.
Here we are only interested in the noise figure with output being taken at port 2. So we
select nf(2) to be shown in the list. Note that the software also calculates the minimum
noise figure NF
min
and the corresponding optimum source reflection coefficient S
opt
. See
[4] on how to find S
opt
and NF
min
. In Figure 5, the contribution of the individual noise
F. Kung June 2004 6
source at the output port is also displayed. We are only interested in the listing under
port2.NC.name and port2.NC.vnc for output taken at port 2. Compare the values with
those obtained in Section 3.0.
References
1. B. P. Lathi, Modern digital and analog communication systems, 3
rd
edition 1998,
Oxford University Press.
2. B. Razavi, RF microelectronics, 1998, Prentice-Hall Inc.
3. G. D. Vendelin, A. M. Pavio, U. L. Rohde, Microwave circuit design using linear
and nonlinear techniques, 1990, John Wiley & Sons.
4. R. Ludwig, P. Bretchko, RF circuit design theory and applications, 2000,
Prentice-Hall Inc.