Master of Science / Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering / William B. Kuhn / A technique for measuring and characterizing transistor noise is presented. The primary goal of the measurements is to locate the 1/f noise corner for select transistors in Silicon-on-Sapphire processes. Additionally, the magnitude of the background channel noise of each transistor is measured. With this data, integrated circuit (IC) engineers will have a qualitative and quantitative resource for selecting transistors in designs with low noise requirements. During tests, transistor noise behavioral change is investigated over varying channel lengths, device type (N-type and P-type), threshold voltage, and bias voltage levels. Noise improvements for increased channel lengths from minimal, 1.0μm, and 4.0μm are measured. Transistors with medium and high threshold voltages are tested for comparison of their noise performance. The bias voltages are chosen to represent typical design values used in practice, with approximately 400 mV overdrive and a drain-to-source voltage range of 0.5 to 3.0V. The transistors subjected to tests are custom designed in Peregrine’s 0.5μm (FC) and 0.25μm (GC) Silicon-on-Sapphire (SOS) processes. In order to allow channel current noise to dominate over other circuit noise, the transistors have extraordinarily large aspect ratios (~2500 - 5000). The transistor noise produced is amplified and measured over a frequency range of 1kHz - 100MHz. This range allows the measurement of each device’s low and high frequency noise spectrum and resulting noise corner.

Kadmium telurid je velmi důležitý materiál jak základního, tak i aplikovaného výzkumu. Je to dáno zejména jeho výhodnými elektronickými, optickými a strukturními vlastnostmi, které ho předurčují pro náročné technické aplikace. Dnes se hlavně používá pro jeho vysoké rozlišení k detekci a X-záření. Hlavní výhodou detektorů na bázi CdTe je, že nepotřebují chlazení a mohou spolehlivě fungovat i při pokojové teplotě. To způsobuje efektivnější interakce fotonů než je tomu u Si nebo jiných polovodičových materiálů. Obsahem této práce byla analýza a interpretace výsledků získaných studiem šumových a transportních charakteristik CdTe vzorků. Měření ukázaly že odpor homogenní části CdTe krystalů mírně klesá při připojení elektrického pole na vzorku. Při změně teploty navíc dochází k odlišné reakci u CdTe typu p a n. Právě těmto efektům je v práci věnována pozornost. Pomocí šumové spektroskopie bylo zjištěno, že při nízkých frekvencích je u vzorků dominantní šum typu 1/f, zatímco při vyšších frekvencích je sledován generačně-rekombinační šum a tepelný šum. Všechny měřené vzorky vykazovaly mnohem vyšší hodnotu šumu na nízkých frekvencích než udává Hoogeova rovnice. Byly nalezeny a popsány zdroje nadbytečného šumu.

The main object of this work is noise spectroscopy of CdTe radiation detectors (-rays and X–rays) and CdTe samples. The study of stochastic phenomenon and tracing redundant low-frequency noise in semiconductor materials require long-term measurements in time domain and evaluate suitable power spectral densities (PSD) with logarithmic divided frequency axes. We have used the means of time-frequency analysis derived from the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and we have designed the effective algorithm for PSD estimation, which is comparable with an original analog method. CdTe single crystal with Au contacts we can imagine as a series connection of two Schottky diodes with a resistor between them. The bulk resistance at constant temperature and other constant parameters changes due to the carrier concentration changing only. The p-type CdTe sample shows metal behavior with every temperature changes. Semiconductor properties of the sample begin to dominate just after some period of time. This behavior is caused by the hole mobility changing. The voltage noise spectral density of 1/f noise depends on the quantity of free carriers in the sample. All the studied samples have very high value of low frequency noise, much higher than it should have been according to Hooge’s formula. The excess value of low frequency noise is caused by the low carrier concentration within the depleted region.

In our work the analysis of electrical and noise characteristics of piezoceramic acoustic emission sensors is accomplished. The objective of our work is to analyze and optimize the signal-to-noise ratio. The starting point is the explanation of the noise origin in the acoustic emission sensors. The voltage fluctuation is caused by the dipole vibrations due to their interaction with phonons. The frequencies of dipoles vibrations have statistical distribution and the total energy of these vibrations is proportional to the temperature. The statistical distribution of vibration frequencies leads to the origination of the 1/f type noise spectral density. The interaction between the phonons and electric dipoles is characterized by the imaginary part of susceptibility which is related to the transformation of electric energy to the mechanical energy of vibrations. This process is irreversible and this forms important theoretical question whether the Callen-Welton fluctuation dissipation theorem could be used for the description of fluctuation processes in the acoustic emission sensors. In our work the influence of the real and imaginary part of the susceptibility on the noise and electrical characteristics is solved, the dissipation of electrical energy characterized by the imaginary part of susceptibility is described and the connection between the imaginary part of susceptibility and the noise power spectral density is discussed. Due to the fact that these processes originate in the interaction between electrical dipoles and phonons, we give account of the temperature dependencies of equivalent series resistance and power spectral density of noise voltage, respectively. Piezoceramics stiffness contribute significantly to the resonance creation hence the pressure influence on the sensor noise characteristics was studied. The signal-to-noise ration improvement requires the piezoceramic sample diameter increase for its constant thickness. The ratio of the noise spectral density and sensitivity is independent on the sample thickness. The noise voltage is proportional to the square root of spectral density and frequency bandwidth that is why for the high signal-to-noise ratio it is necessary to minimize the signal amplifier frequency bandwidth. The noise voltage power spectral density increases with the temperature while the activation energy is 20 meV for the temperature 300 K, and 80 meV for the temperature 400 K, respectively. The power spectral density of planar oscillations decreases with increasing pressure and simultaneously the resonant frequency increases. The bandwidth of the normalized spectral density increases with the pressure for the planar oscillations while is invariable for the thickness oscillations. For the examination of the influence of the piezoceramic electrical polarization on the electrical and noise characteristics the experimental study of these dependencies was accomplished for samples without polarization, and samples polarized by electric field EP = 500V/mm and 1000V/mm, respectively. The samples without polarization show the noise of 1/f type only which corresponds to the Callen-Welton fluctuation dissipation theorem. The polarization leads to the generation of planar and thickness oscillations and the power spectral density of voltage fluctuation on the electrodes is proportional to the temperature, and inversely proportional to the imaginary part of permittivity, to the sample area S, and the frequency f.