Using the Allan variance and power spectral density to characterize DC nanovoltmeters

Author

Witt, Thomas J.

Author_Institution

BIPM, Sevres, France

Volume

50

Issue

2

fYear

2001

fDate

4/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

445

Lastpage

448

Abstract

When analyzing nanovoltmeter measurements, stochastic serial correlations are often ignored and the experimental standard deviation of the mean is assumed to be the experimental standard deviation of a single observation divided by the square root of the number of observations. This is justified only for white noise. This paper demonstrates the use of the power spectrum and the Allan variance to analyze data, identify the regimes of white noise, and characterize the performance of digital and analog DC nanovoltmeters. Limits imposed by temperature variations, 1/f noise and source resistance are investigated

Keywords

1/f noise; digital voltmeters; electric noise measurement; measurement standards; spectral analysis; time series; time-domain analysis; voltage measurement; voltmeters; white noise; 1/f noise; Allan variance; DC nanovoltmeters; analog nanovoltmeters; digital nanovoltmeters; nanovoltmeter performance; noise measurement; power spectral density; source resistance; standard deviation; stochastic serial correlations; temperature variations; time domain analysis; time series; white noise regimes; Analysis of variance; Electrical resistance measurement; Frequency; Measurement standards; Noise measurement; Stochastic resonance; Temperature; Time measurement; Voltage; White noise;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Instrumentation and Measurement, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9456

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/19.918162

Filename

918162