TUNNEL DIODES

History
Esaki diodes was named after Leo Esaki, who in
1973 received the Nobel Prize in Physics for
discovering the electron tunneling effect used in
these diodes. Esaki reported the first paper on
tunnel diodes in Physical Review in 1958

Negative Differential
Resistance (NDR) region

Tunnel diode is the p-n junction device that exhibits negative resistance. That
means when the voltage is increased the current through it decreases.
Specifications
- Both P&N sides are heavily doped
(impurity concentration  1019 / cm 3 )

- Depletion layer width is very small (fewA )
high probability that carriers tunnel from the conduction band of
n-region to the valence band of p-region through the potential
barrier (electron wave nature)
- Formed from Ge, GaAs, GaSb.
Thick depletion layer Thin depletion layer
ADVANTAGES
-low cost

-light weight

-low noise

-low power

-high speed

-high peak to valley current ratio

(50-100 theoretically) (  15 practically).
PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
 (3)

(2)

(1)

-For line(1) Bistable

“a”& “c” are stable points.
“b” Unstable depends on parasitic L&C.
-For line (2)
“b” A stable stable (amplifier) unstable (oscillator).
-For line (3)
“a” Mono stable.
EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT

Rn  j / C 
Z in  Rs  jLs 
 Rn  j / C

Rn  1  jRn C 
 Rs  jLs    
1  jRn C  1  jRn C 

Rn  jRn2 C Rn  Rn2 C 
 Rs  jLs  2 2 2
 Rs  2
 j Ls  2 
1   Rn C 1  (Rn C )  1  ( R n C ) 
Imaginary part =0  fr
 r R n2 C
 rLs 
1  ( r R n C ) 2
2
2 R C
n
1  ( r R n C ) 
Ls

2 R n2
( r R n C )  C  1
Ls
2
R n
 r R nC  C  1
Ls

1 R n2 C
fr   1
2 R nC Ls
Real part =0  f c
Rn
Rs  2
1  ( c R n c )

2 Rn
1  ( c R n c ) 
Rs
Rn
 c Rn c  1
Rs

1 Rn
fc  1
2R n c Rs
PARALLEL LOADING
V2
Pout 
RL
V2
Pin  Pout  A p * Pin
Ap RL
V2
Pgen 
Rn
Pout  Pin  Pgen
V2 V2 V2
  
Ap RL Rn RL
Rn
 Ap 
Rn  RL
SERIES LOADING

RL
Ap 
RL  Rn