Quantum partition noise in field emission currents

A quantum partition noise with spectral density significantly smaller than the Schottky value 2 qI (with q the elementary charge and I the mean current) is predicted to occur in nanoscale electron emitters under the action of strong applied electric fields. The noise suppression effect appears whenever the transmission probabilities for highly occupied states are not small with respect to 1. We show that in two limiting cases: the Fowler–Nordheim regime and the Richardson–Laue–Dushman regime of electron emission, the noise recovers the full Schottky noise without the suppression effect.