New Tools For Fast And Senstive Noise Measurements

Abstract

An instrument to improve power spectrum density (PSD) measurements, a highly sensitive preamplifier and a data acquisition unit are designed as well as a programmable power battery source. The preamplifier has 8 junction field effect transistor (JFET) inputs in parallel resulting in an input noise equivalent power of-186 dBV(2)/Hz. The data acquisition system consists of a low-pass filter, an A/D converter and a RAM, which transfer the data to the connected PC. The FFT or other signal processing is carried out within the PC. The battery power source is controlled by the PC, enabling us to obtain the device-under-test (DUT) bias DC required by the program. This measuring system works well at room temperature where the DUT and the power source could be put into a magnetic shielding box to reject spurious line noises. In the case where the DUT is placed in a cryostat to measure the temperature dependence of noise properties, however, the shielding of the DUT from the power line becomes a serious problem. Particularly in order to use a compressor cooling system, spurious noises come into the measuring system through the power lines of the compressor. In such a case the preamplifier must be placed as close as possible to the DUT, and the power line to the compressor is sometimes disconnected from the system.