Optimum noise measure configurations for transistor negative resistance amplifiers

A new method, using the noise matrix approach, has been developed for determining the optimum reactive terminations for a transistor employed as a low-noise negative-resistance element in a reflection-mode amplifier. This new method corroborates the less efficient graphical method the authors reported earlier. It is established theoretically and demonstrated numerically that the optimum noise measure of a transistor used in a reflection-mode amplifier is independent of the choice of active terminal and is identical to the optimum noise measure of the same transistor when used in a conventional transmission-mode amplifier.