Burst noise

Burst noise is a type of electronic noise that occurs in semiconductors and ultra-thin gate oxide films.[1] It is also called random telegraph noise (RTN), popcorn noise, impulse noise, bi-stable noise, or random telegraph signal (RTS) noise.

Graph of burst noise

It consists of sudden step-like transitions between two or more discrete voltage or current levels, as high as several hundred microvolts, at random and unpredictable times. Each shift in offset voltage or current often lasts from several milliseconds to seconds, and sounds like popcorn popping if hooked up to an audio speaker.[2]

Popcorn noise was first observed in early point contact diodes, then re-discovered during the commercialization of one of the first semiconductor op-amps; the 709.[3] No single source of popcorn noise is theorized to explain all occurrences, however the most commonly invoked cause is the random trapping and release of charge carriers at thin film interfaces or at defect sites in bulk semiconductor crystal. In cases where these charges have a significant impact on transistor performance (such as under an MOS gate or in a bipolar base region), the output signal can be substantial. These defects can be caused by manufacturing processes, such as heavy ion implantation, or by unintentional side-effects such as surface contamination.[4][5]

Individual op-amps can be screened for popcorn noise with peak detector circuits, to minimize the amount of noise in a specific application.[6]

Burst noise is modeled mathematically by means of the telegraph process, a Markovian continuous-time stochastic process that jumps discontinuously between two distinct values.

See also

References
  1. Ranjan, A.; Raghavan, N.; Shubhakar, K.; Thamankar, R.; Molina, J.; O'Shea, S. J.; Bosman, M.; Pey, K. L. (2016-04-01). "CAFM based spectroscopy of stress-induced defects in HfO2 with experimental evidence of the clustering model and metastable vacancy defect state". 2016 IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium (IRPS): 7A–4–1–7A–4–7. doi:10.1109/IRPS.2016.7574576. ISBN 978-1-4673-9137-5.
  2. Rajendran, Bipin. "Random Telegraph Signal (Review of Noise in Semiconductor Devices and Modeling of Noise in Surrounding Gate MOSFET)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 14, 2006.
  3. "Operational Amplifier Noise Prediction" (PDF). Intersil Application Note. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-04-14. Retrieved 2006-10-12.
  4. "Noise Analysis In Operational Amplifier Circuits" (PDF). Texas Instruments application report.
  5. Lundberg, Kent H. "Noise Sources in Bulk CMOS" (PDF).
  6. "Op-Amp Noise can be Deafening Too" (PDF). Today, although popcorn noise can still occasionally occur during manufacturing, the phenomenon is sufficiently well understood that affected devices are detected and scrapped during test.
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