Electronic noise due to multiple trap levels in homogeneous solids and in space-charge layers

Abstract

A near-exact expression is derived for carrier-density fluctuations associated with multiple trap levels, interacting with one band only (say, the conduction band), using the many-variate Master Equation. The canonical constraint is handled with the Darwin–Fowler method. For a homogeneous solid with a discrete number of traps the spectrum consists of a sum of Lorentzians, as expected. For the case of a continuously distributed energy range, the results do not support a Bernamont–Surdin–McWhorter 1/f-like envelope spectrum; on the contrary, no more than two decades of 1/f noise can be expected. The situation is different, however, when band-bending occurs. Employing a Green’s function approach, developed by us previously, we give a formal complete result, which can be evaluated when Ec(r) is known.