Broadband noise is a noise that appears at
higher frequency compared to 1/f noise. The broadband noise is usually flat
and uniform over frequency as shown in
Figure 8-40. The
broadband noise is measured by high-pass filtering the output of the REF70
and measuring the result on a spectrum analyzer as shown in
Figure 8-12. The
DC component of the REF70 is removed by using a high-pass filter and then
amplified. When measuring broadband noise, it is not necessary to have high
gain in order to achieve maximum bandwidth.
For noise sensitive designs, a low-pass filter can
be used to reduce broadband noise output noise levels by removing the high
frequency components. When designing a low-pass filter special care must be
taken to ensure the output impedance of the filter does not degrade ac
performance. This can occur in RC low-pass filters where a large series
resistance can impact the load transients due to output current
fluctuations.