Capable of very fast operation A pn junction with heavy doping Doped 1000 times as heavily as a conventional diode Invented

ted in August 1957 by Leo Esaki Operate at a few mili amperes Relatively resistant to nuclear radiations This makes them well suited to higher radiation environments

 Made from germanium, but can also be made in gallium arsenide and silicon materials. Used oscillators, amplifiers, frequen cy converters and detectors

 INTRODUCTION AIM TECHNICAL COMPARISON PHYSICAL OPERATIONS BAISING BACK DIODE(TUNNEL DIODE) TYPES OF TUNNEL DIODE SPECIFICATION SHEET LOAD LINE ANALYSIS APPLICATIONS OF TUNNEL DIODE ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES

A rough Approximation of the VI curve for a tunnel diode, showing the negative differential resistance region

Fig 1, Characteristic curve of a tunnel diode compared to that of a standard PN junction. (1) the forward current increase to a peak (IP) with a small applied forward bias, (2) the decreasing forward current with an increasing forward bias to a minimum valley current (IV), and (3) the normal increasing forward current with further increases in the bias voltage

ENERGY BAND DIAGRAM: Fig 1a, Tunnel diode energy diagram with no bias
_ valence band of the P-material overlaps the conduction band of the Nmaterial. The majority electrons and holes are at the same energy level in the equilibrium state - the net current flow will be zero

Tunnel diode energy diagram with no bias Fig 1b,

Figure 2 a. - Tunnel
diode energy diagram with 50 millivolts bias.
_ unequal energy levels between some of the majority carriers at the energy band overlap point, but not enough of a potential difference to cause the carriers to cross the forbidden gap _ the valence band of the P-material and the conduction band of the Nmaterial still overlap current carriers tunnel across at the overlap and cause a substantial current flow

Figure 2 B. - Tunnel diode energy diagram with 50 millivolts bias

Tunnel diode energy diagram with 450 m v Fig 3a, ., - the valence band and the
conduction band no longer overlap at this point, and tunneling can no longer occur. -the area of overlap becomes smaller - fewer and fewer electrons can tunnel across the junction. The portion of the curve between point 2 and point 3 in which current decreases as the voltage increases is the negative resistance region

If forward bias has been increased even further. The energy bands no longer overlap and the diode o

Figure 3-B. - Tunnel diode energy diagram with 450 millivolts bias
- If forward bias has been increased even further. The energy bands no longer overlap and the diode operates in the same manner as a normal PN junction, as shown by the portion of the curve in view (B) from point 3 to point 4.

when we increase doping of p type(trivalent) and n type(pentavalent) then depletion region will decrease according to this equation

 MINORITY CHARGE CARRIERS ARE NEGLECTED HIGHER DIFFUSION CURRENT APPROX ZERO DRIFT CURRENT

It has 4 regions AT SMALL FORWARD VOLTAGE AT MAXIMUM TUNNELING CURRENT AT DECREASING CURRENT REGION AT HIGHER FORWARD VOLTAGE

Under normal forward bias operation, as voltage begins to increase, electrons at first tunnel through the very narrow pn junction barrier because filled electron states in the conduction band on the n-side become aligned with empty valence band hole states on the pside of the p-n junction.

The maximum number of electrons in the n region are opposite to the maximum number of empty states in the p-region. Hence tunneling current is maximum

As voltage increases further these states become more misaligned and the current drops because now it enters in negative resistance region. because current decreases with increasing voltage.

As voltage increases yet further, the diode begins to operate as a normal diode, where electrons travel by conduction across the pn junction

 Back diode is a tunnel diode with a suppressed Ip and so approximates a conventional diode characteristic and they are operated in reverse bias. The reverse breakdown for tunnel diodes is very low, typically 200mV, and the TD conducts very heavily at the reverse breakdown voltage. Referring to the BD curve the back diode conducts to a lesser degree in a forward direction .

 In diodes if we increase the reverse voltage then at one level the voltage will not increase and it causes avalanche breakdown. This is high voltage but with the fabrication techniques by increasing doping in diode it is possible that this voltage is lowered and we can adjust its value and it is called zener break down. So it means they both have high doping and in tunnel diode Under reverse bias filled states on the p-side become increasingly aligned with empty states on the n-side and electrons now tunnel through the pn junction barrier in reverse direction this is the zener effect that also occurs in zener diodes So when we compare tunnel diode with zener diode then increasing doping cause the turn on voltage near to origin and in case of tunnel diode it is approximately 0 volt thats why we compare these two elements to understand the concept of tunnel diode.

Types of tunnel diodes are: commercial tunnel diodes broadband tunnel diodes planar tunnel diodes vertical silicon tunnel diodes ACP tunnel diodes hybrid tunnel diodes resonance tunnel diodes silicon/silicon-germanium resonant interband tunnel diodes.

Device ASTD1020

Symbol IP

Test Conditions

Min 100

Typ

Max 200

Units A

ASTD2030
ASTD3040 ASTD1020 ASTD2030 ASTD3040 ASTD1020 RV f=10 GHz RL=10K VP

200
300

300
400 135 130 125 -180 mV mV mV

ASTD2030

Pm=-20 dBm

-130

ASTD3040 All RS I=10mA f=100 MHz

-80 7

(Specification sheets of planar tunnel diode)

Frequency range: The frequency range that can be switched in GHz. Maximum sensitivity: This is the ratio of output voltage (mV) to the input power (mW). Flatness: Ratio of the maximum and minimum output voltage with a constant input power measured in dB. Video resistance: This is the output resistance at an input power of -20 dBm. Other parameters are the operating/storage temperature and input current/voltage.

This is the equivalent circuit of tunnel diode when biased in negative resistance region.

At higher frequencies the series RS and LS can be ignored. Hence equivalent circuit can be reduced to parallel combination of junction capacitance and negative resistance. The inductor LS is due mainly to the terminal leads. The resistor RS is due to the leads, the ohmic contact at the lead semiconductor junction and the semiconductor material themselves. The capacitance C is the junction diffusion capacitance. And R is the negative resistance of the region.

(a)

(b )

(c)

 In figure a the load line intersect at positive resistance level so it is stable.it is known as mono stable operation of tunnel diode Figure b has one operating point and it is negative resistance region so it is unstable. It is known as Astable operation of a tunnel diode In figure c the load line intersect at positive resistance level before negative resistance region(point a) and after negative resistance region(point b) so it is bistable. In negative resistance region it intersect at point c. At point a and b it is stable because a slight disturbance in the network will not set the network in the oscillations or result in a significant change in the location of Q point.F or instance if the defined operating point is at b, a slight increase in supply voltage E will move the operating point up the curve since the voltage across the diode will increase. once the disturbance has passed, the voltage across the diode and the associated diode current will return to the levels defined by the Q point at b.

 The operating point defined by c is an unstable one because a slight change in the voltage across or current through the diode will result in the Q point moving to either a or b..For instance the slightest increase in E will case the voltage across the tunnel diode to increase above its level at c. in this region, however, an increase in Vt will cause a decrease in IT and so on . The result is an increase in VT and a change in IT until a stable operating point at b is established. A slight drop in supply voltage would result in a transition to stability at point a..In other words point c can be defined as the operating point using the load line technique, but once the system is energized, it will eventually stabilize at location a or b.

Although the tunnel diode appeared promising some years ago, it was soon replaced by other semiconductor devices like IMPATT diodes for oscillator applications and FETs when used as an amplifier. Nevertheless the tunnel diode is a useful device for certain applications. Tunnel diode has many applications .some of them is described below

As it has the negative resistance region where unstable operating point concept is included so it is used in oscillators.

It is constructed using tunnel diode. The choice of network elements is designed to establish a load line such as shown below

Note that only intersection with the characteristics is in the unstable negative resistance region a stable operating point is not defined. When the power is turned on, the terminal voltage of the supply will build up from 0 V to final value of E volts. initially the current IT will increase from 0 mA to IP, resulting in a storage of energy in the inductor in the form of magnetic field. However, once IP is reached, the diode characteristics suggest that the current IT must now decrease with increase in voltage across the diode. This contradicts the fact that

If both elements of the equation above werw to decrease, it would be impossible for the supply voltage to reach its set value.T Therefore, for the current IT to continue rising, the point of operation must shift from point 1 to point 2.However, at point 2, the voltage VT has jumped to a value greater than the applied voltage the coil must reverse and the current begin to decrease as shown from 2 to 3.

 On the characteristics, When VT drops to VV, the characteristics suggest that the current IT will begin to increase again. VT is still more than the applied voltage and the coil is discharging through the series circuit. The point of operation must shift to point 4 to permit a continuation of the decrease in IT .However once at point 4, the potential levels are such that the tunnel current can again increase from 0 mA to IP as shown on the characteristics. The process will repeat itself again and again, never settling in on operating point defined for the unstable region. The

The result is an oscillatory output established by a fixed supply and a device with negative resistance characteristics. The waveform has extensive application in timing and computer logic circuitry.

 A tunnel diode can also be used to generate a sinusoidal voltage using simply a dc supply and a few passive elements. To generate this output let us first talk about Tank circuit. An LC circuit, also called a resonant circuit or tuned circuit or tank circuit, consists of an inductor, represented by the letter L, and a capacitor, represented by the letter C. When connected together, they can act as an electrical resonator, an electrical analogue of a tuning fork, storing electrical energy oscillating at the circuit's resonant frequency The purpose of an LC circuit is to oscillate with minimal damping.LC circuits are used either for generating signals.

Now when we connect resistor R with inductor L then due to the resistor the damping is started. So due to this its amplitude will be gradually decreasing.

 Now when we place a tunnel diode with tank circuit with resistor then then we can have negative resistance of tunnel diode resulting a undamped response. The design must be continue to result in a load line that will intersect the characteristics only in negative resistance region.

 A tunnel diode, biased at the center point of the negative-resistance range and coupled to a tuned circuit or cavity, produces a very stable oscillator. The oscillation frequency is the same as the tuned circuit or cavity frequency.Microwave tunnel-diode oscillators are useful in applications that require microwatts or a few milliwatts of power, such as local oscillators for microwave.

 In tunnel diode due to reduced depletion region,it results in carriers Punching through at velocities that far exceed those available with conventional diodes. high-speed applications such as computers where switching time in the order of nanoseconds or picoseconds are desirable

 Low noise amplifiers are the building blocks of any communication system Satellite communications transponder LNA represent an important microwave application of TD Tunnel-diode amplifiers with frequencies up to 85 gigahertz have been built in waveguides, coaxial lines, and transmission lines. A good LNA has a low NF (like 1dB) The low-noise generation, gain ratios of up to 30 dB, high reliability, and light weight make these amplifiers ideal for use as the first stage of amplification in communications and radar receivers.

 Most microwave tunnel-diode amplifiers are REFLECTIONTYPE, CIRCULATOR-COUPLED AMPLIFIERS. As in oscillators, the tunnel diode is biased to the center point of its negative-resistance region, but a CIRCULATOR replaces the tuned cavity. A circulator is a waveguide device that allows energy to travel in one direction only, as shown in the figure below. The tunnel diode is connected across a tuned-input circuit. This arrangement normally produces feedback that causes oscillations if the feedback is allowed to reflect back to the tunedinput circuit. The feedback is prevented because the circulator carries all excess energy to the absorptive load (R L). In this configuration the tunnel diode cannot oscillate, but will amplify.

 The desired frequency input signal is fed to port 1 of the circulator through a bandpass filter. The filter serves a dual purpose as a bandwidth selector and an impedance-matching device that improves the gain of the amplifiers. The input energy enters port 2 of the circulator and is amplified by the tunnel diode. The amplified energy is fed from port 2 to port 3 and on to the mixer. If any energy is reflected from port 3, it is passed to port 4, where it is absorbed by the matched load resistance.

 Tunnel diodes make excellent mixers and frequency converters because their current-voltage characteristics are highly nonlinear. While other types of frequency converters usually have a conversion power loss, tunnel-diode converters can actually have a conversion power gain. A single tunnel diode can also be designed to act as both the nonlinear element in a converter and as the negative-resistance element in a local oscillator at the same time. Practical tunnel-diode frequency converters usually have either a unity conversion gain or a small conversion loss. Conversion gains as high as 20 dB are possible if the tunnel diode is biased near or into the negativeresistance region. Although high gain is useful in some applications, it presents problems in stability. For example, the greatly increased sensitivity to variations in input impedance can cause high- gain converters to be unstable unless they are protected by isolation circuitry.

 Since they are more resistant to nuclear radiation, tunnel diodes are used in space applications like amplifiers for satellite communications. We can also use tunnel diode as a flip flop but for one polarity. The fast switching of tunnel diode coupled with their potential low cost and small size make attractive their use in computer logic Used for trigger circuits in oscilloscopes. Sensor modulator for telemetry of temperature in human beings and animals. Used in electron tunneling microscope. Used for the construction of shift register.

 One of the main reasons for the early success of the tunnel diode was its high speed of operation and the high frequencies it could handle. This resulted from the fact that while many other devices are slowed down by the presence of minority carriers, the tunnel diode only uses majority carriers, i.e. holes in an n-type material and electrons in a p-type material. The minority carriers slow down the operation of a device and as a result their speed is slower. Also the tunnelling effect is inherently very fast. Its simplicity,linearity ,low power drain and reliability ensure its continued life and application so because of these advantages. It also has Relatively resistant to nuclear radiation.

The tunnel diode is rarely used these days and this results from its disadvantages. Firstly The disadvantages are that because of the low current, it can be used only in low power applications. While this may be acceptable for low noise amplifiers, it is a significant drawback when they are used in oscillators as further amplification is needed and this can only be undertaken by devices that have a higher power capability, i.e. not tunnel diodes. One difficulty with the tunnel diode is the low voltage required for its operation .The negative resistance region is around 50 to 300 millivolts, requiring a bias voltage in the order of, say, 100 millivolts. The reproducibility is quite low and this leads to high production costs and low yield..

Questions Answers

& A
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