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Methods and Practical Aspects of Measuring 1/f Noise in Zero-drift Operational Amplifiers Cover

Methods and Practical Aspects of Measuring 1/f Noise in Zero-drift Operational Amplifiers

Measurement Science Review
Volume 26 (2026): Issue 3 (June 2026)
By: ,  ,   and    
Open Access
|May 2026
Figures & tables

Figures & Tables

Fig. 1.

Definition of effective noise bandwidth.

Fig. 2.

Measurement noise floor obtained by measuring a short circuit with two simultaneously sampling nanovoltmeters (NVM1, NVM2).

Fig. 3.

Measurement in high gain using two simultaneously sampling digitizing voltmeters.

Fig. 4.

Noise measurement in G=1 using two simultaneously sampling nanovoltmeters.

Fig. 5.

Noise measurement in G = 1 using two ultra-low noise amplifiers and DVMs or an oscilloscope.

Fig. 6.

Providing robust equipotentiality and minimization of loop area to reduce magnetic field pick-up: (a) two LNAs interconnected in a shielding box; (b) detail of output coaxial cables routed to an oscilloscope.

Fig. 7.

Conceptual diagram of the low noise amplifier.

Fig. 8.

Ultra low-noise amplifier. Low pass filters occupy the majority of the left half. High-stability C0G/NP0 capacitors provide only low capacity, so a large number must be connected in parallel.

Fig. 9.

Measured LNA input-referred voltage noise density. The violet curve is measured with a DVM; all others with an oscilloscope.

Fig. 10.

LNA performance check by resistor thermal voltage noise. Dashed lines are the theoretical values; LNA bandwidth is 18 Hz.

Fig. 11.

Noise floor of evaluated instruments. Ranges are as follows: NVM 1 and 10 mV, DVM 100 (200) mV, oscilloscope 4 (5) mV/div.

Fig. 12.

Measurements in high gain as per Section 2.B.

Fig. 13.

Direct measurement by nanovoltmeters as per Section 2.C. The contribution of the low-pass filter was subtracted.

Fig. 14.

Measurements using an LNA as per Section 2.D.

Relation between cut-off frequency and ENBW for RC low-pass filters of different orders_

Filter orderSlope (dB/dec)ENBW/ω−3 dB
1201.57
2401.22
3601.15
4801.13
51001.11
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/msr-2026-0017 | Journal eISSN: 1335-8871
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Language: English
Page range: 136 - 142
Submitted on: Jan 13, 2026
Accepted on: Apr 10, 2026
Published on: May 6, 2026
Published by: Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Measurement Science
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: Volume open
Keywords:
voltage noise density,
zero-drift operational amplifier,
cross spectral density,
nanovoltmeter
Related subjects:
Engineering,
Electrical engineering,
Control engineering, metrology and testing

© 2026 Jaromir Sukuba, Nikolai Beev, Jakub Sabo, Daniel Valuch, published by Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Measurement Science
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Volume 26 (2026): Issue 3 (June 2026)
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