Noise equivalent circuit for nonlinear resistors

A Gaussian white noise model for passive nonlinear resistors with linear-quadratically approximated I-V-characteristics is suggested. The model is an approximative version of a more precise model that has been obtained from purely thermodynamic, macroscopic considerations. Thus, it may serve as a thermodynamic justification of non-thermodynamic device noise models. Apart from temperature, it only depends on the first two Taylor coefficients of a device´s I-V-characteristics. It is independent of further device specific features like shape, size or carrier transport mechanism. It is capable of describing frequency independent types of noise that can be derived from macroscopic, non-quantum considerations: thermal noise and shot noise. It does not comprise 1/f-noise. To test the model it is applied to the shot noise of pn-junction and Schottky-barrier diodes and a tunnel junction as well as to the thermal noise of a JFET and a MOSFET. The results are in full agreement with the standard noise models for these devices, which are usually obtained from device specific microscopic or kinetic models. The model, which comprises Nyquist´s theorem as a special case, is a generalization of Nyquist´s theorem to linear-quadratic nonlinear resistors