2010/

2011

EEE 314: ELECTRONIC III

NOISE

This lesson will be a great informative

lesson on internal external noise in an
electronic circuit

Fadare Suraju Adebayo

Electrical Engineering Department, Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro.
2010/2011
 LESSON 4

Noise
Noise can be defined as an unwanted signal that causes random fluctuation in the original
signal in an electronic system or external effects of the environment. This comprehensive
definition really indicates that noise is an analogy to impurity in pure water where pure
water is the original signal in the electronic system. Bases on the causes of the noise signal,
noise is divided into two, namely:

1. Internal Noise and

2. External Noise.

Internal noise is the group of noise that are being generated within an electronic device
or component or system. Examples of internal noise are Thermal noise, Shot noise, 1/f or
flicker noise, bipolar transistor noise and FET noise.

4.1 Thermal or Johnson or White Noise

The noise is generated by thermally induced random motion of atoms of electronic

components. It is called white noise because it has component at all frequency (all part of
the frequency spectrum) like white light.

Noise power Pn of thermal noise is constant for any resistance and is related to absolute
temperature T(K) and bandwidth B of the electronic system. Hence, we have

Pn = 4kTB

Where K is Boltzman’s constant (k = 1.3805 x 10-3 J/K) vn is

However we all know that P =

Therefore Vn(rms)= (4kTBR)1/2

Vn is the noise voltage and is directly proportional to the resistance of the electronic device,
component or system.

Before treating other examples of noise, lets treat this important phenomenon - Signal –To
– Noise Ratio (S/N).

4.2 Signal to Noise Ratio (S/N)

This can be simply defind as the ratio of the power of the true siginal Ps and niose power Pn
of an electronic system. It is a method of comparing the capacitor of the pure signal to the
niose signal which is going to be an indication of how the signal will be distorted.
S/N= 10log in dB

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 S/N= 20log in dB

Example 4.1: A signal of 2.5 Volt rms is distorted by 10 mv rms noise. What is the S/N ratio
at this point?

Solution 4.1
Given Parameters: Vs= 2.5 V Vn= 10 mV = 0.01 V

S/N= 20log = 20log = 48 dB

4.3 Shot Noise

Shot noise is generated by random flow of current or charge carriers across potential barrier
such as pn-junction. Statistical variation in the flow of small current leads to the noise
current called shot noise. It is magnitude is given by the below equation.
In(rms) = (2eBI)1/2
Where e= electronic charge= 1.6 x 10-19 C, B= Bandwidth over which the noise is measured
and I is the mean value of the current.
In an high transistor, base current is small, hence, effect of shot noise is significant.

4.4 1/f Noise or Flicker Noise

1/f noise is caused by not one but a variety of noise sources. It is called 1/f noise because
the power spectrum of the noise is inversely proportional to frequency. Hence, a halving of
the power doubles the frequency. Clearly, most of the noise power is concentrated at low
frequency. Another name for 1/f noise is flicker noise which is caused by random variation
in the diffusion of charge carrier within the device.

4.5 Bipolar Transistor Noise

Bipolar transistor, like any other electronic components that has resistance, possesses
thermal noise. When operating at low frequency (up to few kHz), transistor also has the
flicker noise but at high frequency, the flicker noise is negligible.

Another noise that can be found at the output signal of a transistor is the shot noise as a
result of the random traversal of charge carriers across the pn junctions.

4.6 Noise in FETs

Remember that a FET is a unipolar electronic component, hence, shot noise is insignificant
in FET. Thermal and flicker noises are those that have effect on signal that passes through
FETs.

4.7 Noise Figure (NF)

S/N indicates quality of non-performance of the amplifier. However, NF gives a measure of

performance of an amplifier in handling noise. By definition, NF is the ratio of noise

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produced at the output of a typical amplifier to the output of the ideal (noiseless) amplifier
when having the same input signal.

4.8 External Noise

This noise signal get into the true signal and electronic system from external sources which
are also referred to as interference. External noise is mostly electromagnetic interference
(EMI). Sources of external noises can either be natural sources or man-made sources.
Natural external noises are lightning, solar emission and cosmic radiation. The man-made
sources are automatic ignition systems, electric motors, industrial plants, mobile phones,
switching power supplies, power distribution systems, circuit breakers, contactors and
computers.

4.9 Reducing Noise Signals

1) Reducing Source Resistance:

A careful design of the electronic system in a way that the source resistance is
made as low as possible in order to reduce thermal noise which is proportional to
the resistance. A very low internal resistance system will have a very low noise
signal voltage. Remember that the source resistance,

RS = √
Where Vn and In are the rms noise voltage and current.
2) Design transistor for low quiescent current:
In transistor, both noise voltage and current increase with collector current. Hence,
if the transistor is operated, at low quiescent current of a few micro amps. Suitable
transistors combine low flicker noise and high current gain at low collector current.
3) Design FET for fairly high drain current:
In FET, thermal noise is caused by the resistance of the channel. The channel
resistance, however, decreases with increase in drain current reduces thermal
noise.
4) Reducing conductor length
5) Reducing numbers of loop in a circuit.
6) Using multilayer circuits but do not make circuit board to be perpendicular to one
another.
7) Use of electromagnetic shield.
8) Use of twisted pair wire.
9) Preventing the use of the system where there is EM radiation.

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