Characteristics of burst (popcorn) noise in transistors and operational amplifiers

In its simplest form, burst noise has a waveform of bistable levels similar to that of microplasma noise in p-n junctions. However, the amplitude of the noise pulse is generally much lower and the pulse width much larger than those of microplasma noise. Burst noise, when present, completely dominates the low-frequency noise power of a semiconductor device, causing it to become several orders of magnitude larger than that of a device free from this type of noise. Thus, burst noise can be a leading factor in determining the economics of low-noise transistor and operational amplifier fabrication.