Noise in Advanced Electronic Devices and Circuits

Abstract. State-of-the-art low-frequency and high-frequency noise performance and modeling in modern semiconductor devices and circuits are discussed. The increase of noise-to-DC current ratio may compromise the circuit applications in near future. The low-frequency noise (LFN) tends to a log-normal distribution. Since the random-telegraph-signal (RTS) noise is pronounced in submicron devices, then new techniques being used to characterize of multilevel RTS are discussed. High-frequency noise modeling and sample experimental results are presented, including the important effect of gate-tunneling current for future devices. For the RF circuits, we discuss the phase noise in voltage-controlled oscillators (VCO) based on ring oscillators and LC-tank VCOs with and without automatic amplitude control. Finally, the effects of hot-carrier stress on the performance of a VCO is presented and discussed