CORRELATION BETWEEN EXCESS 1/f NOISE AND GATE LEAKAGE CURRENT IN ION IMPLANTED GaAs MESFET'S ON SEMI-INSULATING SUBSTRATES.

The spectral intensity of ion implanted GaAs MESFET gate-input equivalent noise voltage and noise current generators and their dependence on the gate leakage current have been measured in the low frequency (LF) range of 30 Hz to 50 KHz at 105 degree K and 300 degree K. The noise appears to be a combination of 1/f and 1/f** varies directly as types. It is found that the excess gate leakage current that results from increasing the gate reverse bias has a strong correlation with the corresponding excess LF noise. The gate current is due to direct tunneling whereas the excess noise is most likely due to tunneling of electrons into defects and deep levels near the metal-semiconductor interface and their subsequent emission via the thermal process.