Origin of 1/f noise in metallic conductors and semiconductors

Presented here is a theory of bulk-generated 1/f noise universally applicable to all metallic conductors and semiconductors. The basic principle is that the conduction of heavy charge carriers occurs jointly with normal electronic conduction. These heavy charge carriers are termed electron-linked lattice (ELL) carriers and are mobile charge carriers with a positive electronic charge and a variable effective mass greater than a lattice atom’s effective mass. They traverse through the conductor by a chain of electron-transfer interactions without the breaking of lattice bonds with one ELL carrier produced for each conduction electron generated. If a loss of acceleration of the ELL carrier occurs, which is caused during an electron transfer interaction and described by a factor β, the resulting noise spectrum is ω^-(1+β). When β=1, the ELL carriers behave as free particles and a 1/ω² spectrum results. When β=0, the ELL carriers lose acceleration during the electron transfer and a 1/ω spectrum results of a magnitude that fits the Hooge empirical formula for 1/f noise.