Millimeter-Wave Noise Sources using Heterodyne Mixing of Signals

This paper describes a new approach for the generation of broadband noise signal at millimeter-wave frequencies. The noise source consists of heterodyne mixing of upconverted baseband noise with the local oscillator signal in a Schottky diode mixer. Characterization of the noise source shows an excess noise ratio of roughly 25 dB at W-band and 23 dB at G-band.