EMRFD Message Archive 3238

Message Date From Subject
3238 2009-06-24 16:29:09 Glen Leinweber Re: Tunnel Diodes?
Leon,
I was wrong about Gunn effects of P-I-N diodes, since Gunn
negative resistance isn't possible in silicon. It was TRAPATT-
type negative resistance, and apparently is possible (even likely)
in some P-I-N type diode circuits:

"TRAPATT oscillations in a P-I-N avalanche diode", IEEE Transactions
on electron devices, ED-18 no.5 (May 1971) Don Parker

"How to avoid TRAPATT oscillations at the Reverse Recovery of
Power Diodes", K.T.Kaschani, R.Sittig 1995 IEEE

Since TRAPATT oscillations are invoked while snapping the diode
off quickly, (as in switch-mode power supplies), there should be no
worries about using P-I-N diodes as attenuators.

Leon Heller wrote:
>The 1N4007 has a PIN diode construction, and has been used as an RF
switch
>or attenuator.