Noise in silicon double-base diodes

The power spectrum of the current fluctuations (noise) in the double-base diode has been measured experimentally and calculated theoretically. It has been found that there are two sources of noise in the double-base diode. First, there is the thermal noise of the real part of the ac admittance. The second source of noise is fluctuations in numbers of electrons and holes in the conduction band and valence band, respectively. Noise measurements are also presented for a diode with a long, high resistivity base region. These measurements are discussed qualitatively.