INFLUENCE OF ELECTRON-ELECTRON SCATTERING ON SHOT-NOISE IN DIFFUSIVE CONTACTS

Shot noise in contacts with a small elastic mean free path in the presence of electron-electron scattering is calculated using the Boltzmann-Langevin approach and the approximation of effective electron temperature. In the case of strong electron-electron scattering, the ratio between the shot noise S-I and its classical value 2e \ I\ increases from 1/3 to root 3/4 owing to a broadening band of partially occupied states. The influence of electron-phonon scattering on the shot noise at finite temperatures is also considered. As this scattering decreases the energy of the electron gas, it suppresses the shot noise at high voltages and increases the low-voltage boundary of the shot-noise range at finite temperatures. However, the noise-to-current ratio decreases with increasing contact length more slowly than its reciprocal.