What's The Key To Quantifying A Phase Noise Analyzer's True Noise Floor?

The noise floor of a phase noise analyzer is an important metric that establishes the lowest measurable signal level. Any signal that falls below the instrument’s noise floor will be masked by that very noise.

An analyzer’s noise floor is determined by a number of factors, such as:

• The phase noise analyzer’s own architecture
• The phase noise performance of the instrument’s local oscillators (LOs)
• System thermal noise
• Internal component noise
• External test environment noise

In this post, learn how most phase noise analyzers estimate noise floor figures, while other instruments can give a truer depiction of this critical parameter.