1fNoise in Platinum Films and Ultrathin Platinum Wires: Evidence for a Common, Bulk Origin

The $\frac{1}{f}$ noise of platinum films and ultrathin platinum wires has been found to scale inversely with the number of atoms in the sample, $N$, for $N$ in the range ${10}^7$ to ${10}^{14}$. This strongly reinforces the idea that the $\frac{1}{f}$ noise of continuous metal films is of bulk origin, and demonstrates that the dominant form of excess low-frequency noise in the very small structures investigated here is the bulk $\frac{1}{f}$ noise.