[sdiy] Tunneldiodes...

[Ian Fritz]

Alex --

>With the
>Tunneldiode as an element with a negative small-signal resistance (I don't
>know, if this is the right term in English. Translated word by word, we call
>it 'differential resistance' in German) you could compensate the damping of
>a resonant circuit.

Also in English, "negative differential resistance" is the usual term.

Leo Esaki won the Nobel Prize for proposing and developing quantum 
mechanical tunneling in semiconductor devices, of which the tunnel diode 
was the first.  This set off a storm of development of tailored 
quantum-well devices that is still continuing today.  Ultra high speed 
transistors (HEMPTS) and semiconductor laser diodes are just a couple of 
devices that evolved out of that work.

   Ian