Tunnel Diode
Guided by Submitted by
Mr. Anshul Gupta Vedansh Kashyap
Assistant Professor Roll no-14116087
Dept. of Electronics and Telecommunication 6th Sem
NIT Raipur
Topics
Introduction to tunnel diode
Principles of Operation
Characteristics of tunnel diode
Equivalent circuit of tunnel diode
Tunnel diode as an amplifier
Tunnel diode amplifier with circulator
Tunnel diode oscillator
Performance characteristics and applications
Vedansh Kashyap 14116087 Dept. of ECE NIT Raipur
TUNNEL DIODE (Esaki Diode)
It was introduced by Leo Esaki in 1958. EV
Heavily-doped p-n junction
Impurity concentration is 1 part in 103 as compared to 1 part
in 108 in p-n junction diode
Width of the depletion layer is very small
(about 100 ).
It is generally made up of Ge and GaAs.
It shows tunneling phenomenon.
Circuit symbol of tunnel diode is :
Vedansh Kashyap 14116087 Dept. of ECE NIT Raipur
PRINCIPLES OF OPERATION
The tunnel diode is a negative-resistance semiconductor p-n junction diode.
The negative resistance is created by the tunnel effect of electrons in the p-n
junction.
Classically, it is possible for those particles to pass over the barrier if and only if
they have an energy equal to or greater than the height of the potential barrier.
Quantum mechanically, however, if the barrier is less than 3 there is an
appreciable probability that particles will tunnel through the potential barrier
even though they do not have enough kinetic energy to pass over the same
barrier.
In addition to the barrier thinness, there must also be filled energy states on the
side from which particles will tunnel and allowed empty states on the other side
into which particles penetrate through at the same energy level.
Vedansh Kashyap 14116087 Dept. of ECE NIT Raipur
i) At zero bias
As tunnel diode is heavily doped on
both p and n side the fermi levels of
p type and n type semiconductor
exist close to the valence band in p
type and close to the conduction
band in n type.
This results in filled energy states on
n side of diode and empty states on
p side of diode.
Vedansh Kashyap 14116087 Dept. of ECE NIT Raipur
ii) for 0 < V <Vp
The potential barrier is decreased
by the magnitude of the applied
forward-bias voltage and a
difference in Fermi levels in both
sides is created.
Since there are filled states in the
conduction band of the n type at
the same energy level as allowed
empty states in the valence band
of the p type, the electrons tunnel
through the barrier from the n
type to the p type, giving rise to a
forward tunneling current.
Vedansh Kashyap 14116087 Dept. of ECE NIT Raipur
iii) for V =Vp
As voltage reaches Vp the
valence band of p type and the
conduction band of n type
becomes perfectly aligned.
At this point the current is
maximum and hence is known
an peak current Ip and the
corresponding voltage is called
peak voltage Vp.
Vedansh Kashyap 14116087 Dept. of ECE NIT Raipur
iv) for Vp < V <Vv
In this condition the number of
energy states at the same level
decreases resulting in lesser
electrons tunneling through the
barrier.
Hence in this region a
significant reduction in current
is observed with in increasing
voltage.
In this region negative
differential resistance is
observed.
Vedansh Kashyap 14116087 Dept. of ECE NIT Raipur
v) For V >Vv
When the forward-bias voltage
V is increased above the valley
voltage Vv , the ordinary
injection current I at the p-n
junction starts to flow.
After this point the tunnel
diode behaves as an ordinary
diode with current varying
exponentially with voltage.
Vedansh Kashyap 14116087 Dept. of ECE NIT Raipur
CHARACTERISTICS OF TUNNEL DIODE
Vedansh Kashyap 14116087 Dept. of ECE NIT Raipur
EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT OF TUNNEL DIODE
Where RS = resistance of the packaging circuit,
LS = inductance of the packaging circuit
C=junction capacitance
Rn=negative resistance
Vedansh Kashyap 14116087 Dept. of ECE NIT Raipur
TUNNEL DIODE AS AN AMPLIFIER
The tunnel diode can be connected either in parallel or in series with
a resistive load as an amplifier; its equivalent circuits are shown in Fig
Vedansh Kashyap 14116087 Dept. of ECE NIT Raipur
Parallel load
The output power in the load
resistance is given by
2
=
One part of this output power is
generated by the small input power
through the tunnel diode amplifier
with a gain of A, and this part can be
written
2
=
Vedansh Kashyap 14116087 Dept. of ECE NIT Raipur
Another part of the output power is
generated by the negative resistance, and it is
expressed as
2
=
Therefore
2 2 2
+ =
And
=
When the negative resistance Rn of the tunnel
diode approaches the load resistance Rl, the
gain A approaches infinity and the system
goes into oscillation.
Vedansh Kashyap 14116087 Dept. of ECE NIT Raipur
Series load
Using voltage division rule
=
and
=
Therefore
=
Vedansh Kashyap 14116087 Dept. of ECE NIT Raipur
The amplifier gain for series and parallel are considered for the case
when the junction capacitance is neglected.
In order for above condition to be satisfied the magnitude of negative
resistance must be much greater than the junction capacitance.
This gives rise to the resistive cutoff frequency which decides the
upper limit of operating frequency beyond which negative resistance
disappears.
1
=
1
=
2
1
=
2
Vedansh Kashyap 14116087 Dept. of ECE NIT Raipur
TUNNEL DIODE AMPLIFIER WITH CIRCULATOR
Vedansh Kashyap 14116087 Dept. of ECE NIT Raipur
A tunnel diode can be connected to a microwave circulator to make a
negative resistance amplifier.
A microwave circulator is a multiport junction in which the power
may flow only from port I to port 2, port 2 to port 3, and so on in the
direction shown.
Although the number of ports is not restricted, microwave circulators
with four ports are most commonly used. If the circulator is perfect
and has a positive real characteristic impedance R0, an amplifier with
high gain can be built by selecting a negative-resistance tunnel diode
whose input impedance has a real part equal to R0 and an imaginary
part equal to zero.
In general, the reflection coefficient is given by
0
=
+ 0
Vedansh Kashyap 14116087 Dept. of ECE NIT Raipur
Tunnel diode oscillator
A tunnel diode, biased at the center point of the negative-resistance
range (point B ) and coupled to a tuned circuit or cavity, produces a
very stable oscillator.
Vedansh Kashyap 14116087 Dept. of ECE NIT Raipur
The oscillation frequency is the same as
the tuned circuit or cavity frequency.
A tunnel-diode is loosely coupled to a
high-Q tunable cavity.
The negative resistance provided by the
tunnel diode compensates for the
positive resistance of the cavity.
The output power produced is in the
range of a few hundred microwatts.
Vedansh Kashyap 14116087 Dept. of ECE NIT Raipur
The frequency at which the oscillator
operates is determined by the physical
positioning of the tuner screw in the
cavity (mechanical tuning).
In addition to mechanical tuning, tunnel-
diode oscillators may be tuned
electronically by changing the bias
voltage of tunnel diode known as bias
tuning
Vedansh Kashyap 14116087 Dept. of ECE NIT Raipur
PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS
The major advantage of tunnel diode oscillators is that moderate
power oscillations can be produced with relatively simple circuits.
Another advantage of tunnel diode oscillator is relatively low noise
figures.
Other performance parameters
Power 750W
Frequency range Upto 100 GHz
Tuning range 1 to 4.3 GHz
Vedansh Kashyap 14116087 Dept. of ECE NIT Raipur
Thank you
Vedansh Kashyap 14116087 Dept. of ECE NIT Raipur
