Burst noise
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Burst noise is a type of electronic noise that occurs in semiconductors. It is also called impulse noise, bi-stable noise, or random telegraph signals (RTS noise).
It consists of sudden step-like transitions between two or more levels (non-Gaussian), as high as several hundred millivolts, at random and unpredictable times. Each shift in offset voltage or current lasts for several milliseconds, and the intervals between pulses tend to be in the audio range (less than 100 Hz), leading to the term popcorn noise for the popping or crackling sounds it produces in audio circuits.[1]
It was discovered during the development of one of the first semiconductor op-amps; the 709.[2] Its sources are not currently known, but appear to be related to trapping of charge carriers, imperfections in semiconductor devices (such as surface contamination) and heavy ion implants.[3][4] The worst case noise seems to be at low temperatures and with high thermal noise from external resistors.[2]
Individual op-amps can be screened for popcorn noise with peak detector circuits, to minimize the amount of noise in a specific application.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Random Telegraph Signals — Review of Noise in Semiconductor Devices and Modeling of Noise in Surrounding Gate MOSFET, Bipin Rajendran
- ^ a b Operational Amplifier Noise Prediction — Intersil Application Note
- ^ Noise Analysis In Operational Amplifier Circuits — Texas Instruments application report
- ^ Noise Sources in Bulk CMOS — Kent H. Lundberg
