Method of establishing benchmark for figure of merit indicative of amplifier flicker noise

A method of establishing a benchmark for a figure of merit indicative of flicker noise of an amplifier circuit, comprising:

• receiving, for at least a measurement time interval, an output voltage of one of a plurality of amplifier circuits as a time domain voltage signal with a magnitude distribution, thermal noise voltage having a magnitude and flicker noise voltage having a profile;
• digitizing at least a portion of said time domain voltage signal corresponding to said measurement time interval to provide a corresponding plurality of time domain signal data;
• processing said plurality of time domain signal data in accordance with a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) operation to compute at least a portion of said flicker noise voltage profile below a corner frequency, wherein said flicker noise voltage profile comprises a voltage versus frequency profile with each one of a plurality of successively decreasing noise voltage magnitudes at a respective one of a plurality of successively increasing frequencies, and a last one of said plurality of successively decreasing noise voltage magnitudes is at said corner frequency and approximately equal to said thermal noise voltage magnitude;
• processing a portion of said plurality of time domain signal data corresponding to a portion of said measurement time interval to compute a time correlation parameter, a magnitude distribution parameter and a product of said time correlation and magnitude distribution parameters to produce one of a plurality of first coordinates;
• and
• repeating said receiving, digitizing and processings for each one of said plurality of amplifier circuits to produce said plurality of first coordinates and a plurality of second coordinates, wherein each one of said plurality of second coordinates comprises one of said plurality of successively decreasing noise voltage magnitudes at a selected one of said plurality of successively increasing frequencies.

A method of determining flicker noise of an amplifier circuit, comprising:

• receiving, for at least a test time interval, an output voltage of an amplifier circuit as a time domain voltage signal with a magnitude distribution, a thermal noise voltage having a magnitude, and a flicker noise voltage having a profile;
• digitizing at least a portion of said time domain voltage signal corresponding to said test time interval to provide a corresponding plurality of time domain signal data;
• processing at least a portion of said plurality of time domain signal data corresponding to at least a portion of said test time interval to compute a time correlation parameter, a magnitude distribution parameter and a product of said time correlation and magnitude distribution parameters to produce a test coordinate;
• and
• comparing said test coordinate to a plurality of fist coordinates to determine a corner frequency for said amplifier circuit flicker noise, wherein said plurality of first coordinates, is computed by
• receiving, for at least a measurement time interval, another output voltage of one of a plurality of amplifier circuits as another time domain voltage signal with another magnitude distribution, another thermal noise voltage having a magnitude, and another flicker noise voltage having a profile,
• digitizing at least a portion of said another time domain voltage signal corresponding to said measurement time interval to provide another corresponding plurality of time domain signal data,
• processing said another plurality of time domain signal data in accordance with a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) operation to compute at least a portion of said another flicker noise voltage profile below another corner frequency, wherein said another flicker noise voltage profile comprises a voltage versus frequency profile with each one of a plurality of successively decreasing noise voltage magnitudes at a respective one of a plurality of successively increasing frequencies, and a last one of said plurality of successively decreasing noise voltage magnitudes is at said another corner frequency and approximately equal to said another thermal noise voltage magnitude,
• processing a portion of said another plurality of time domain signal data corresponding to a portion of said measurement time interval to compute another time correlation parameter, another magnitude distribution parameter and another product of said another time correlation and magnitude distribution parameters to produce one of said plurality of first coordinates, and
• repeating said receiving, digitizing and processings for each one of said plurality of amplifier circuits to produce said plurality of first coordinates and a plurality of second coordinates, wherein each one of said plurality of second coordinates comprises said another corner frequency for a corresponding one of said plurality of amplifier circuits.

A method of determining flicker noise of an amplifier circuit, comprising:

• receiving, for at least a test time interval, an output voltage of an amplifier circuit as a time domain voltage signal with a magnitude distribution, a thermal noise voltage having a magnitude, and a flicker noise voltage having a profile;
• digitizing at least a portion of said time domain voltage signal corresponding to said test time interval to provide a corresponding plurality of time domain signal data;
• processing at least a portion of said plurality of time domain signal data corresponding to at least a portion of said test time interval to compute a time correlation parameter, a magnitude distribution parameter and a product of said time correlation and magnitude distribution parameters to produce a test coordinate;
• and
• comparing said test coordinate to a plurality of first coordinates to determine a noise voltage magnitude at a selected frequency for said amplifier circuit flicker noise, wherein said plurality of first coordinates is computed by
• receiving, for at least a measurement time interval, another output voltage of one of a plurality of amplifier circuits as another time domain voltage signal with another magnitude distribution, another thermal noise voltage having a magnitude, and another flicker noise voltage having a profile,
• digitizing at least a portion of said another time domain voltage signal corresponding to said measurement time interval to provide another corresponding plurality of time domain signal data,
• processing said another plurality of time domain signal data in accordance with a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) operation to compute at least a portion of said another flicker noise voltage profile below a corner frequency, wherein said another flicker noise voltage profile comprises a voltage versus frequency profile with each one of a plurality of successively decreasing noise voltage magnitudes at a respective one of a plurality of successively increasing frequencies, and a last one of said plurality of successively decreasing noise voltage magnitudes is at said corner frequency and approximately equal to said another thermal noise voltage magnitude,
• processing a portion of said another plurality of time domain signal data corresponding to a portion of said measurement time interval to compute another time correlation parameter, another magnitude distribution parameter and another product of said another time correlation and magnitude distribution parameters to produce one of said plurality of first coordinates, and
• repeating said receiving, digitizing and processings for each one of said plurality of amplifier circuits to produce said plurality of first coordinates and a plurality of second coordinates, wherein each one of said plurality of second coordinates comprises one of said plurality of successively decreasing noise voltage magnitudes at a selected one of said plurality of successively increasing frequencies.

A method of establishing a benchmark for a figure of merit indicative of flicker noise of an amplifier circuit comprising:

• receiving, for at least a measurement time interval, an output voltage of one of a plurality of amplifier circuits as a time domain voltage signal with a magnitude distribution, thermal noise voltage having a magnitude and flicker noise voltage having a profile;
• digitizing at least a portion of said time domain voltage signal corresponding to said measurement time interval to provide a corresponding plurality of time domain signal data;
• processing said plurality of time domain signal data in accordance with a first Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) operation to compute at least a portion of said flicker noise voltage profile below a corner frequency, wherein said flicker noise voltage profile comprises a voltage versus frequency profile with each one of a plurality of successively decreasing noise voltage magnitudes at a respective one of a plurality of successively increasing frequencies, and a last one of said plurality of successively decreasing noise voltage magnitudes is at said corner frequency and approximately equal to said thermal noise voltage magnitude;
• processing a portion of said plurality of time domain signal data corresponding to a portion of said measurement time interval in accordance with a second FFT operation to produce one of a plurality of first coordinates;
• and
• repeating said receiving, digitizing and processings for each one of said plurality of amplifier circuits to produce said plurality of first coordinates and a plurality of second coordinates, wherein each one of said plurality of first coordinates comprises one of said plurality of successively decreasing noise voltage magnitudes at a selected one of said plurality of successively increasing frequencies, and each one of said plurality of second coordinates comprises said corner frequency for a corresponding one of said plurality of amplifier circuits.

A method of establishing a benchmark for a figure of merit indicative of flicker noise of an amplifier circuit, comprising:

• receiving, for at least a measurement time interval, an output voltage of one of a plurality of amplifier circuits as a time domain voltage signal with a magnitude distribution, thermal noise voltage having a magnitude and flicker noise voltage having a profile;
• digitizing at least a portion of said time domain voltage signal corresponding to said measurement time interval to provide a corresponding plurality of time domain signal data;
• processing said plurality of time domain signal data in accordance with a fist Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) operation to compute at least a portion of said flicker noise voltage profile below a corner frequency, wherein said flicker noise voltage profile comprises a voltage versus frequency profile with each one of a plurality of successively decreasing noise voltage magnitudes at a respective one of a plurality of successively increasing frequencies, and a last one of said plurality of successively decreasing noise voltage magnitudes is at said corner frequency and approximately equal to said thermal noise voltage magnitude;
• processing a portion of said plurality of time domain signal data corresponding to a portion of said measurement time interval in accordance with a second FFT operation to produce one of a plurality of first coordinates;
• and
• repeating said receiving, digitizing and processings for each one of said plurality of amplifier circuits to produce said plurality of first coordinates and a plurality of second coordinates, wherein each one of said plurality of first coordinates comprises a first one of said plurality of successively decreasing noise voltage magnitudes at a selected one of said plurality of successively increasing frequencies, and each one of said plurality of second coordinates comprises a second one of said plurality of successively decreasing noise voltage magnitudes at said selected one of said plurality of successively increasing frequencies.

A method of determining flicker noise of an amplifier circuit, comprising:

• receiving for at least a test time interval, an output voltage of an amplifier circuit as a time domain voltage signal with a magnitude distribution, a thermal noise voltage having a magnitude, and a flicker noise voltage having a profile;
• digitizing at least a portion of said time domain voltage signal corresponding to said test time interval to provide a corresponding plurality of time domain signal data;
• processing at least a portion of said plurality of time domain signal data corresponding to at least a portion of said test time interval to compute a time correlation parameter, a magnitude distribution parameter and a product of said time correlation and magnitude distribution parameters to produce a test coordinate;
• and
• comparing said test coordinate to a plurality of first coordinates to determine a corner frequency for said amplifier circuit flicker noise, wherein said plurality of first coordinates is computed by
• receiving, for at least a measurement time interval, another output voltage of one of a plurality of amplifier circuits as another time domain voltage signal with another magnitude distribution, another thermal noise voltage having a magnitude, and another flicker noise voltage having a profile,
• digitizing at least a portion of said another time domain voltage signal corresponding to said measurement time interval to provide another corresponding plurality of time domain signal data,
• processing said another plurality of time domain signal data in accordance with a first Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) operation to compute at least a portion of said another flicker noise voltage profile below another corner frequency, wherein said another flicker noise voltage profile comprises a voltage versus frequency profile with each one of a plurality of successively decreasing noise voltage magnitudes at a respective one of a plurality of successively increasing frequencies, and a last one of said plurality of successively decreasing noise voltage magnitudes is at said another corner frequency and approximately equal to said another thermal noise voltage magnitude,
• processing a portion of said plurality of time domain signal data corresponding to a portion of said measurement time interval in accordance with a second FFT operation to produce one of a plurality of first coordinates, and
• repeating said receiving, digitizing and processings for each one of said plurality of amplifier circuits to produce said plurality of first coordinates and a plurality of second coordinates, wherein each one of said plurality of first coordinates comprises one of said plurality of successively decreasing noise voltage magnitudes at a selected one of said plurality of successively increasing frequencies, and each one of said plurality of second coordinates comprises said corner frequency for a corresponding one of said plurality of amplifier circuits.

A method of determining flicker noise of an amplifier circuit, comprising:

• receiving, for at least a test time interval, an output voltage of an amplifier circuit as a time domain voltage signal with a magnitude distribution, a thermal noise voltage having a magnitude, and a flicker noise voltage having a profile;
• digitizing at least a portion of said time domain voltage signal corresponding to said test time interval to provide a corresponding plurality of time domain signal data;
• processing at least a portion of said plurality of time domain signal data corresponding to at least a portion of said test time interval to compute a time correlation parameter, a magnitude distribution parameter and a product of said time correlation and magnitude distribution parameters to produce a test coordinate;
• and
• comparing said test coordinate to a plurality of first coordinates to determine a noise voltage magnitude at a selected frequency for said amplifier circuit flicker noise, wherein said plurality of first coordinates is computed by
• receiving, for at least a measurement time interval, another output voltage of one of a plurality of amplifier circuits as another time domain voltage signal with another magnitude distribution, another thermal noise voltage having a magnitude, and another flicker noise voltage having a profile,
• digitizing at least a portion of said another time domain voltage signal corresponding to said measurement time interval to provide another corresponding plurality of time domain signal data,
• processing said another plurality of time domain signal data in accordance with a first Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) operation to compute at least a portion of said another flicker noise voltage profile below a corner frequency, wherein said another flicker noise voltage profile comprises a voltage versus frequency profile with each one of a plurality of successively decreasing noise voltage magnitudes at a respective one of a plurality of successively increasing frequencies, and a last one of said plurality of successively decreasing noise voltage magnitudes is at said corner frequency and approximately equal to said another thermal noise voltage magnitude,
• processing a portion of said plurality of time domain signal data corresponding to a portion of said measurement time interval in accordance with a second FFT operation to produce one of a plurality of first coordinates, and
• repeating said receiving digitizing and processings for each one of said plurality of amplifier circuits to produce said plurality of first coordinates and a plurality of second coordinates, wherein each one of said plurality of first coordinates comprises a first one of said plurality of successively decreasing noise voltage magnitudes at a selected one of said plurality of successively increasing frequencies, and each one of said plurality of second coordinates comprises a second one of said plurality of successively decreasing noise voltage magnitudes at said selected one of said plurality of successively increasing frequencies.