Shot Noise in Negative-Differential-Conductance Devices

We have compared the shot-noise properties at T = 4.2 K of a double-barrier resonant-tunneling diode and a superlattice tunnel diode, both of which exhibit negative differential-conductance (NDC) in their current-voltage characteristics. While the noise spectral density of the former device was greatly enhanced over the Poissonian value of 2eI in the NDC region, that of the latter device remained 2eI. This result implies that charge accumulation, not system instability, is responsible for shot-noise enhancement in NDC devices.