FET noise-parameter determination using a novel technique based on 50-Omega noise-figure measurements

A novel method for measuring the four noise parameters of a field-effect tr ansistor (FET) is presented. It is based on the determination of its intrin sic noise matrix elements [C-11(INT), C-22(INT), Re(C-12(INT)), Im(C-12(INT ))] by fitting the measured device noise figure for a matched source reflec tion coefficient (F-50) at a number of frequency points, thus, a tuner is n ot required. In contrast to previous works, no restrictive assumptions are made on the intrinsic noise sources. The receiver full-noise calibration is easily performed by using a set of coaxial and on-wafer standards that are commonly available in a microwave laboratory, thus, an expensive broad-ban d tuner is not required for calibration either. On-wafer experimental verif ication up to 26 GHz is presented and a comparison with other F-50-based an d tuner-based methods is given. As an application, the dependence of the FE T intrinsic noise sources as a function of the bias drain-current and gate- length is obtained.