Modal analysis of noise in signal-processing-in-the-element detectors.

Detector noise limits the performance of signal-processing-in-the-element detectors. For detectors to be optimized, an expression for the signal and noise must be found. The results of the eigenmode solution to the charge transport problem are used to derive the power spectral density of the noise in analytic form. This result is then coordinated with a similarly obtained modulation transfer function to yield a frequency-dependent signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The SNR is used to reveal performance trends over several ranges of detector parameters. The most important result is that the contact boundary velocity strongly controls the SNR. The optimum SNR condition occurs when the contacts are not perfectly ohmic but exhibit a partially blocking behavior.