The electrical origin of the 1/f electrical noise in solid-state devices and integrated circuits

José-Ignacio Izpura

doi:10.1117/12.721175

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10 May 2007 The electrical origin of the 1/f electrical noise in solid-state devices and integrated circuits

José-Ignacio Izpura

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Proceedings Volume 6590, VLSI Circuits and Systems III; 65901O (2007) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.721175
Event: Microtechnologies for the New Millennium, 2007, Maspalomas, Gran Canaria, Spain

Abstract

Contrarily to current theories based on hypothetical traps where charge carriers can translocate to, this paper gives an explanation for 1/f electrical noise in solid-state devices based on well known electrical effects taking place in these devices. A parasitic capacitor and the backgating effect of its thermal noise, both overlooked in the course of the years, are the basis of the above explanation. The above effect produces a resistance noise with a Lorentzian spectrum in any unbiased resistor. As soon as the resistor is biased, this spectrum is scattered into a continuous set of Lorentzian noise terms that synthesize 1/f noise over a frequency band that is an exponential function of the bias voltage V_DS expressed in thermal units V_T. This is due to the exponential dependence of the dynamical resistance in most semiconductor junctions. A V_DS=180mV is thus enough to give 1/f noise over three decades at room temperature. This unexpected and non-linear feature, where the spectrum of this noise results from the own bias used to measure it, has kept 1/f noise as a puzzling and enigmatic noise for more than eighty years. The above theory, born in the solid-state field, can also be generalized to other devices where two orthogonal forces or energy gradients appear while electrical noise is being measured.

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José-Ignacio Izpura "The electrical origin of the 1/f electrical noise in solid-state devices and integrated circuits", Proc. SPIE 6590, VLSI Circuits and Systems III, 65901O (10 May 2007); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.721175

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