Shot noise in solid state diodes

Abstract

It is shown that the noise in Schottky barrier diodes on n-type material, and in long and short n +- p junction diodes can always be written in the shot noise from S ▪=2eI + 4eI 0 where I is the current and I 0 the saturation current. The various diffusion and recombination noise contributions to the terms 2 eI and 4 eI 0 can be complex and are not easily interpreted, but the final result always seems to lead to the shot noise formula. The physical basis of the above equation and of the corpuscular approach to shot noise is discussed.