Fully Integrated Avalanche Noise Sources: Reproducibility and Stability Assessment

Avalanche noise diodes have recently been demonstrated in standard Si technologies such as CMOS and SiGe BiCMOS processes and used to design fully integrated noise sources. This letter investigates the reproducibility (die-to-die and run-to-run) and the stability over time of these devices. On-wafer noise sources are indeed relevant because of their extensive use in mm-wave noise measurements and for the calibration of high performance, single-chip receivers and radiometers. The results, obtained for the case study 30-GHz noise sources in 130-nm SiGe BiCMOS technology, show that a 0.3-dB reproducibility is achieved (ten dice fabricated in three different foundry runs) and that the generated noise has a stability of 0.07% in a period of 1000 min (Allan deviation of fractional temperature fluctuations). This will enable a new class of built-in test equipment (BITE) for terrestrial and space applications.