A Study Of Electronic Device Low-Frequency Noise Measurement Technology And The Application

Low frequency noise of electronic devices is related to the carriers’ microcosmicbehavior, through the study of the noise test technology, carrier transport-related theorycan be effectively verified, meanwhile, the exploration of the physical origin of noisephenomenon can be promoted. The accurate measurement of the noise is the base forresearch and analysis of noise characteristics, generation mechanism, and its application.One of the purposes to research the noise mechanisms and its testing technology is theapplication of electronic noise. Through the research of the relationship between thenoise and defects, stress damage, technological level, process quality and reliability ofelectrical devices, the characterization methods based on the noise can be built up, andthe methods can be used in the design optimizing, process controlling, qualityevaluating, and reliability screening.The paper systematically studies on the low frequency noise testing technology andits application method in electronic devices. In the noise testing technology, the researchon the bias, low noise amplifier, data acquisition, noise parameter extraction, and erroranalysis technology was carried out. Based on the low frequency noise characteristicsand the related testing technology, the electronic devices low frequency noise testsystem was established. By using this testing system, low frequency noises of differenttypes of electronic devices have been tested and analyzed. In the research of the noiseapplications, MOSFET, resistors, optical detectors, microwave, and RF devices aretested on their noise characteristics, and the noise generation mechanism as well asnoise models is deeply researched. The noise applications in devices defects andreliability characterization have been proposed and these applications are verified byvariety of experimental tests. The main works of this paper are:（1）The simple DC bias noise testing technology was improved by using thestructure of the bridge testing circuits. A specific implementation scheme was proposedfor AC bias test technology. Meanwhile, the noise characteristics of different biassources are compared with each other, and a low-noise DC bias source was designed.（2）The amplifier’s background noise was effectively reduced by the proposedparallel structure amplifier. The current amplifier technology was studied, and a methodof spread spectrum testing was presented in this thesis. Based on the technologiesdescribed above, different sets of noise test system have been built for a variety ofdevices.（3）Mesoscopic shot noise is a new phenomenon when device dimension of devices reduced, which is the reason why the relative test methods were specificallystudied. According to the characteristics of shot noise, the noises’ testing conditions,such as temperature, bias circuits, frequency and background noise were studied. Basedon the parallel amplifier, a low temperature (10K and77K) shot noise testing systemwas established, which was verified in experiments.（4）Through the research on the physical model of small-scaled MOSFET,relationship between the shot noise and the scattering coefficient was built up, and amethod of extracting scattering coefficient from shot noise was proposed consequently.Furthermore, the application of shot noise in MOS devices’ reliability characterizationwas explored.（5）The problems exist in the standard of measurement of current noisegeneration in fixed resistors were discussed, and improved methods are proposed torectify those problems. A resistor noise test software and hardware system was designed,and its rationality and accuracy were verified. Then, film resistors’ noise characteristicswere tested by the system. The methods of characterizing the temperature stability ofresistance paste by current noise index, and characterizing the quality and reliability ofresistor by the power spectral density were proposed.（6）The photoelectric detector noise test system is established. The1/f and G-Rnoise physical models of PbS infrared detectors were deduced and experimental verified.The1/f noise was employed to characterize the surface defects of infrared detector. Inaddition, G-R noise was employed to characterize the defect parameters includingdefect activate energy, degeneracy factor and capture section. Besides, the noise ofavalanche photo diode (APD) was tested, and the reliability characterization parametersand method were studied.（7）The noise of microwave and RF devices was studied. The relationshipbetween the noise and internal potential defects of PHEMT devices was analyzed.Analyses of thermal stress and ESD stress in microwave and RF devices are carried out.Then the damages of devices were characterized by noise tests and electrical tests. Amethod for characterizing the degradation by low-frequency noise in high-frequencydevices was proposed consequently. The results shown the noise parameters andelectrical parameters are coincident in characterizing the damage from stress; however,noise parameters are more sensitive than electrical parameters. For example, theamplitude of G-R and1/f noise is more sensitive in characterizing the thermal stressdamage of microwave amplifier; the wide band noise voltage reflects the antistatic property of the device.The works and achievements stated above were partly used in the real productionand research already; some of these works are still under further exploration. All theworks in this thesis established a foundation for further research on noise testing andapplication both experimentally and theoretically.