Hey.
I have a question about noise figure and attenuator.
Lets assume we talk about 1Hz BW and the Thermal noise is -174dbm
What happens if a signal with a power of -168dBm is going to a 10dB attenuator?
is it possible to get below Thermal noise?
and what happens if I put 50ohm at the input and output, at the input of the att there is thermal noise, what happens when the noise go through the att?
Thank you very much

 

I believe the noise is associated with the construction of the device itself.

 

Noise at the output of the attenuator is at thermal noise level in both cases.

 

an attenuator would bring your signal down to -158dBm. Accentually, you would lose the signal.