The tunnel diode was found many microwave
applications because semiconductor devices of the day
could not reach these frequencies. Although not
widely used today, it is still sometimes mentioned
and it is a fascinating device.
The tunnel diode was discovered by a Ph.D. research
student named Esaki in 1958 while he was
investigating the properties of heavily doped
germanium junctions for use in high speed bipolar
transistors. In the course of his research he
produced some heavily doped junctions and as a result
found that they produced an oscillation at microwave
frequencies as a result of the tunnelling effect. It
was subsequently found that other materials including
gallium arsenide also produced the same effect.
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