No Noise Is Good Noise: Noise Matching, Noise Canceling, and Maybe a Bit of Both for Wide-Band LNAs

Researchers have described the concept of noise matching since at least the 1950s [1]-[4], with studies demonstrating the interrelationships among the noise factor of a low-noise amplifier (LNA), the LNA's noise parameters, and the signal-source impedance Zs. Noise matching is accomplished when an LNA is driven by a signal source, the impedance (or admittance) of which is designed-perhaps using a matching network-to equal the LNA's optimum signal-source impedance for minimum noise, or Zopt. The complex Zopt = Gopt+ jXopt represents two of the four noise parameters that completely characterize the noise behavior of a linear two-port device, such as an LNA. The other two noise parameters are the minimum noise factor, Fmin, and the Lange invariant N [5], [6], which is, arguably, a more fundamental parameter than the often-used equivalent noise resistance, Rn. © 2016 IEEE.