The microscopic interpretation of electron noise in Schottky-barrier diodes

We present a microscopic analysis of electron noise in GaAs Schottky-barrier diodes under forward-bias conditions. An ensemble Monte Carlo simulator coupled with a one-dimensional Poisson solver is employed for the calculations. Current and voltage operation modes are applied separately, so that we provide both the microscopic origin and the spatial location of the noise sources. The coupling between fluctuations of the carrier velocity and self-consistent electric field is found to describe the noise spectra in the whole range of the current-voltage characteristics.