Operational Amplifier Noise

Chapter 1

Introduction and Review of Statistics

Noise analysis can be done in the time domain, in the frequency domain, or by using statistical analysis. This chapter introduces these three analysis methods. These methods will be utilized throughout this book.

1.1 Time Domain View of Noise

Noise is most commonly viewed in the time domain. A typical plot of time domain noise is shown in Figure 1.1. In the time domain, noise voltage is on the y-axis and time is on the x-axis. Noise can be viewed in the time domain using an oscilloscope. Figure 1.1 also shows that if you look at this random signal statistically, it can be represented as a Gaussian distribution. The distribution is drawn sideways to help show its relationship with the time domain ...