In this paper, the impact of the channel length (L) on the parameters of the electron valence band (EVB) tunneling induced Lorentzian noise is described for partially-depleted (PD) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) MOSFETs. The Lorentzian time constant at a fixed gate overdrive voltage tends to increase for the shortest lengths studied, while the plateau amplitude of the current noise spectral density (S-1 (0)) levels off at short L. A different behaviour is observed for the n-compared with the p-channel transistors, while a strong effect will be shown by the presence of a HALO implantation, used to control the short channel effect. It is demonstrated that the observations can be qualitatively explained by considering the Lorentzian noise as the result of the RC filtered shot noise accompanying the EVB tunneling current and the forward current of the source-body junction. For explaining the short-channel effects, it is pointed out that one should consider the lateral non-uniformity of the EVB tunneling current, which is related to the local variation of the threshold voltage V-th. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.