Origin of 1/f noise in lateral PNP bipolar transistors

1/f noise was measured on lateral bipolar PNP transistors over a temperature range of 220<T<450 K. Noise power spectral density measurements were performed simultaneously across two resistors connected in series with base and collector. The equivalent base current noise source S_IB has two dominant components. One is S_IBE that is between the base and the emitter, in parallel with r_π. The other is S_IBC coming from the surface recombination current at the neutral base, between the base and the collector. The extracted S_IB exhibited a near square law dependence on base current I_B. The noise remained nearly constant when the temperature was below 310 K. However, it presented strong temperature dependence when the temperature was beyond 310 K. Two different models are proposed for the noise in different temperature regions. For the high temperature region, the surface recombination velocity fluctuation model is proposed, which indicates that the noise is coming from the fluctuations in the surface recombination velocity at the neutral base surface. The tunneling assistant trapping model is responsible for the low temperature region, where the noise source is the carrier trapping–detrapping by the defects in the spacer oxide covering the surface of the depletion layer.