Resistivity-noise measurements in thin gold films near the percolation threshold

Thin gold-film samples near the percolation threshold were fabricated with a resistance range from 10 to ${10}^8$ Ω that had an equally large range of 1/f noise. The conduction mechanism and microscopic source of the noise changed from metallic to hopping as the sample resistance increased. Ion milling was used to increase the resistance of individual samples through the metal-insulator transition, and the measured 1/f noise, $S_V$/$V^2$, scaled as $R^{2\pm 0.1}$ on the metallic side.