Why is 1/f resistance noise nearly universal in solids?
In plain words
Resistance fluctuations in metals and semiconductors follow a 1/f spectrum over many decades of frequency. A broad spread of slow defect relaxation times can produce this, but why that spread is so generic is open.
Precise statement
The empirical Hooge relation $S_R(f)/R^2 = \alpha_H/(N_c f)$, with $N_c$ the number of carriers, holds over many decades of $f$ in metals and semiconductors. The McWhorter and Dutta-Horn picture attributes the noise to thermally activated fluctuators with a broad distribution of activation energies. Determine whether this picture accounts for all classes of $1/f$ resistance noise (mobility versus number fluctuations, metals versus semiconductors), and if not, which classes need a different mechanism.
What would settle it
Systematic tests of the Dutta-Horn relation and of $\alpha_{H}$ against controlled defect density in several material classes, with the fluctuators identified microscopically.
Related problems
- More general than Does the Dutta-Horn fluctuator model describe 1/f noise in metal films?
- More general than What sets the magnitude of the Hooge noise parameter?
See also
- Related Why do qubit energy-relaxation times fluctuate over hours?
- Related Do tunneling two-level defects dephase conduction electrons at millikelvin temperatures?
- Related Microscopic origin of 1/f flux noise in SQUIDs and qubits
- Related Where does 1/f noise stop at low frequency?
- Related Origin of 1/f charge noise in silicon spin qubits