Physical Sources of Burst Noise

Abstract

Burst noise(or “bruit en créneaux”) is often observed in p-n junctions devices operating under forward conditions, In the simplest of cases, it looks like a random telegraph wave. Its magnitude is generally greater than either 1/f noise, shot noise or thermal noise. Most previous studies [1] to [3] described burst noise as a function of biasing conditions and temperature. All the authors attributed the phenomen on to defects located in the neighbourhood of the emitter-base junction Nevertheless, opinions on the nature of these defects are divided. Hsu, Whittier and Mead [4] , Bredersen, Cook and Chenette [5] implicated metallic precipitates, Blasquez [6],Martin, Blasquez, De Cacqueray, de Brebisson and Schiller [7] , and later Conti and Corda [8] all observed firm correlation between the crystallographic defect density and the proportion of transistors having burst noise.