New broadband thermal noise primary standard in coaxial technology

A broadband primary standard for thermal noise measurements is presented and its thermal and electromagnetic behavior is analyzed by means of analytical and numerical simulation techniques. It consists of a broadband termination connected to a 3.5mm coaxial airline partially immersed in liquid Nitrogen. The main innovative part of the device is the thermal bead between inner and outer conductors, designed for obtaining a proper thermal contact and to keep low both its contribution to the total thermal noise and its reflectivity. A sensitivity analysis is realized in order to fix the manufacturing tolerances for a proper performance in the range 10MHz-26.5GHz. © 2011 IEEE.