Apparent volume dependence of 1/f noise in thin film structures: Role of contacts

The experimental investigation of low-frequency noise properties in new materials is very useful for the understanding of the involved physical transport mechanisms. In this paper it is shown that, when contact noise is present, the experimental values of the normalized Hooge parameter show a fictitious linear dependence on the volume of the analyzed samples. Experimental data on noise measurements of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 thin films are reported to demonstrate the validity of the analysis performed. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.