Leo Esaki won the Nobel Prize, along with Ivar Giaevar and Josephon for Tunnelling phenomena. At least
surface plasmons and Josephson Junctions are still in use today.
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-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Chuck Harris
Sent: 30 April 2018 20:15
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [TekScopes] Nuvistors/TD
I read that manual from cover to cover, over and over again, as an information starved boy will. I
was
all ready to conquer the world with tunnel diodes, and went off to Radio Shack to buy some, and....
RATS!
They had no idea what the heck I was talking about. Neither did Capitol Radio...
Radio Shack of the late 1960's was vastly more interesting then it was in later years... but still
no tunnel
diodes.
Then the Motorola Semiconductor Reference Manual, the TI TTL manual, and MECL manuals came to
me, and I forgot all about tunnel diodes.... Until tektronix scopes brought them back into my life
(585A).
-Chuck Harris
Kevin Oconnor wrote:
"See this 1961 GE TD manual:"
I remember that manual from long long ago. I did high school at the end of the 60's and was the
first
class in college in EE to not study "tubes", EEs were going all solid state! The Esaki TD was only
invented
in '57, that manual published in '61, and essentially un-mentioned until my grad school studying
from
Simon Sze Physics of Semiconductor Devices.
My point is that the TD is a good historical example of industrial exuberance in addition to a
fascinating device. At the time that manual was published the TD was going to revolutionize logic
switching design it was so fast. Tubes were out, now there was something better than the transistor!
Ah, but that was a "discrete" world view. As it quickly became evident, you couldn't really
integrate
with them, the on/off states had poor noise margin compared to other logic and in less than a decade
they were relegated to discrete applications in oscillator, tuner and gating apps. Three terminal
devices are just better at noise margin and I/O isolation.
It is interesting to note that the TD effect is a majority carrier action, unlike a conventional
PN
junction. There is another majority carrier diode that, while older than the transistor, was rapidly
assimilated into power devices and integration and is still in use today. That would be the Schottky
barrier diode! Two very interesting junction barrier effects with quite different commercial
outcomes.
Still, it is a bit cool to hold a TD knowing the amazing physical phenomenon that the simple
little
device demonstrates.
Kjo
