Design, Error Analysis and Operation of a Noise Autocorrelator.
Abstract
Low frequency 1/f noise limits the ultimate sensitivity of semiconductor devices such as MOSFET (MOS Field-Effect-Transistor) and CCD (Charge Coupled Devices). The study of the origin of the low frequency noise sources requires detailed measurements of the noise power spectra under a wide range of device operating conditions. This report details the design and operation of a hardwired noise correlation processor (correlator) which is interfaced to a host computer for two-way handshaking operation. The correlator samples the noise voltage from a device under study as well as calculates, averages and stores the autocorrelation function of the noise. The host computer can than sample the autocorrelation data, calculate the power specturm and plt the results, all on a low priority time sharing basis if necessary. This system provides the flexibility of programmable control and the speed and accuracy of dedicated hardware correlator. In order to optimize the correlator design, a detailed analysis of sampling, correlation and noise theory were undertaken which provided some important insights on sampling quantization errors, and noise power averaging techniques using incomplete correlation. These theoretical concepts apply to a wide range of situations of signal correlation, as well as noise power spectra measurements on silicon semiconductor devices. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1978
- Accession Number
- ADA058857
Entities
People
- C. T. Sah
- Michael J. Mcnutt
Organizations
- University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign