The General Nature of Fundamental 1/f Noise in Oscillators and in the High Technology Domain

Abstract

The ubiquitous fundamental 1/f noise spectrum is derived ontologically from quantum electrodynamics for any current, cross section or process rate as a universal macroscopic quantum fluctuation process, and as the most important infrared divergence phenomenon. It is present both in space and in time and is described in both the frequency and time domains. For small and ultrasmall devices and solid state samples the conventional quantum 1/f effect is introduced, and for larger sizes the coherent quantum 1/f effect applies. This new aspect of quantum mechanics is described by simple practical relations and by a general interpolation formula. The connection with numbers of harmonics and subharmonics characterizing the basic non-linearity of the particle-field interaction as well as other nonlinearities, is elucidated. Finally, the general epistemological explanation of the ubiquitous 1/f phenomenon is derived in the form of a sufficient 1/f noise criterion, and is applied to various nonlinear systems, including the particle-field system of quantum-electrodynamics as a particular example. Application of the frequency mixing 1/f frequency noise experiments of Planat and collaborators is considered as an equivalent way to understand the derivation of the fundamental 1/f spectrum. This new approach could reveal how our earlier qualitative interpretation of lattice-dynamical quantum 1/f effects below the lowest transversal acoustic phonon frequency of the sample in terms of subharmonics can be verified.