DiodeArrayResearch

The thermal random movement of electrons in a resistor is the Brownian movement of mobile charges. This is both an electrical and thermal phenomena on a microscopic scale. This is where something nominally at a uniform temperature is non uniform on a microscopic scale. When the temperature is the same, there is no temperature difference to produce a flow of heat for conversion processes that require a flow of heat. Conversely, where there is a temperature difference, conversion processes that require a flow of heat work. It is then possible for a process that works on a microscopic scale to work even if the temperature is the same on a larger scale. Next, there is the issue of flow direction because maintaining large scale temperature uniformaty requires that the microscopic flows be equal in both directions. This is the critical part of the discussion, because the conventional belief here is that it takes more energy to produce an intermittant one way flow of heat or its conversion derivative than the use of the one way flow will yield.

I don't believe that it requires more energy than the Johnson noise itself for a diode not requiring a cathode heater to produce net intermittant one way electrical power opportunistically from electrical power that flows in either direction at different times equally.

Johnson noise is an expression of heat that can be rectified and aggregated. There are losses in diodes as they rectify this electrical power, however, if there is net rectified output, than heat is being absorbed and converted into a yield of electrical power.

The kTB energy for the diode as a whole can be rectified by the diode.

Summary: definition plus comment that component noise is beyond equlibrium implying that diodes can rectify kTB power.

Google's definition of Johnson noise is: http://www.atis.org/tg2k/_thermal_noise.html

Summery: definition plus comment that component noise is beyond equlibrium.

A comment on equlibria:

There is kTB noisepower in resistors as components even though the electrons in a cylindrical conductor well within the boundaries are in the simple equilibrium of being uniformly dispersed. A diode junction supports a complicated equilibrium between space charge and diffusion in the depletion region but there is also one milleu of kTB energy for the diode as a whole beyond equilibrium.

Aloha, Charlie