AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF NOISE IN TUNNEL DIODES

Abstract

Noise measurements were made on 1 silicon and 3 germanium commercially available tunnel diodes over a bias range from zero voltage to a voltage slightly beyond the valley point, and at three temperatures--203 K, 290 K, and 373 K. Frequency-dependent noise was measured in the range 1 kc to 500 kc, and was found to increase with increasing bias voltage for each sample. The observed noise at each bias point varied nearly inversely as the frequency to some power x, where x ranged from 0.46 to 1.2. Frequency-independent noise was measured at 30 mc at room temperature. It was found that the equivalent shot- noise current of a tunnel diode at voltages above the peak-point voltage is given very closely by the observed direct current. From zero voltage to the peak-point voltage, the equivalent shotnoise current of a tunnel diode is approximated by the sum of the magnitudes of the Esaki and Zener currents.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 1961
Accession Number
AD0263266

Entities

People

  • Carl N. Berglund

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Air Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Capacitance
  • Diodes
  • Direct Current
  • Electrical Engineering
  • Electronics
  • Engineering
  • Frequency
  • Massachusetts
  • Measurement
  • New York
  • Radar
  • Shot Noise
  • Signal Generators
  • Tunnel Diodes
  • United States
  • Voltage

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Acoustics.
  • Electronics Engineering
  • Solar Photovoltaics and Thermoelectric Devices.