Agilent (Hewlett-Packard) N4000A Noise Source, SNS Series

The N4000A is a noise source with nominal ENR 6dB and works in conjunction with the Agilent NFA Series of noise figure analyzers and ESA E-Series spectrum analyzers with noise figure personality. To simplify measurement set-up and improve accuracy these noise sources automatically download electronically stored calibration data to the compatible Agilent noise figure measuring analyzers. The noise sources also have the capability to automatically measure their own temperature so that compensation can be applied to the calibration data.

The N4000A is designed to accurately measure devices with low noise figure, or devices whose gain is especially sensitive to small changes in source impedance. This includes most GaAs FET's. The N4000A maintains the same impedance whether turned on or off. By maintaining the same impedance at the input to the device under test (DUT) gain changes are reduced. These gain changes can often masquerade as DUT noise and cause noise figure measurement errors.

The ENR of this noise source is nominally 6 dB from 10 MHz to 18 GHz. DUT's with noise figures up to 20 dB can be accurately and reliably measured with this device. The N4000A noise source has a choice of connectors, with an APC 3.5 (m) as standard.