[sdiy] Tunneldiodes...

[Magnus Danielson]

From: Ian Fritz <ijfritz at earthlink.net>
Subject: RE: [sdiy] Tunneldiodes...
Date: Wed, 03 Sep 2003 07:35:22 -0600

> 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.

"negativ dynamic resistance" is usually used to describe the area in the I-V
diagram where the curve has opposite sign to that of a resistive curve.

> 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.

Indeed. I think stuff like Gunn diodes and TRAPATT diodes should be mentioned.

Cheers,
Magnus