Measurement of on-wafer transistor noise parameters without a tuner using unrestricted noise sources

The authors present a method for calibrating the four noise parameters of a noise receiver which does not require a tuner The method permits using general (mismatched) noise sources, which may present very different source reflection coefficients between their hot and cold states. The method is applied to the calibration of a noise set-up using on-wafer noise sources (a reverse-biased cold-FET and an avalanche noise diode). Experimental validation of the receiver calibration and its application to the determination Of on-wafer FET noise parameters to 40 GHz is presented.