A model for the channel noise of MESFETs including hot electron effects

Noise is an important consideration in the reliability of microelectronic c ircuits determining the sensitivity of the circuits and placing a lower lim it on the regions of operation. Proper modeling of noise in integrated circ uits is essential for reliable operation. A derivation is given for the cha nnel noise coefficient of FET's operating in the saturation region. Some si mple approximations are made for hot electron effects which can be incorpor ated into the derivation and accounted for by a numerical integration techn ique. Experimental results of measured and calculated noise coefficients ar e compared for depletion mode MESFETs of different gate lengths. This model gives a much more realistic representation of the channel noise coefficien ts for short gate length devices rather than the simple 2/3 value currently used in circuit simulations. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights res erved.