Determination of gain of microwave amplifying devices through noise figure measurements

Conventional methods for measuring microwave power gain of microwave amplifying devices (amplifiers or transistors such as MESFETSs, HEMTs, etc...) are based on the determination of the output-to-input power ratio or, alternatively, on its computation through the scattering parameters measured by an Automatic Network Analyzer. By means of the method presented in this paper the available power gain is measured by a noise figure measuring set-up. The method offers some advantages, specially in characterizing low noise transistors or amplifiers in terms of noise figure