Tunnel diode (Esaki diode)
Diodo túnel (diodo Esaki)
- Date
- 1957 · confidence high
- Place
- Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (Sony), Tokyo, Japan
- Credited to
- Esaki Leo
- People
- 👤 Leo Esaki1925–
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
A heavily doped junction diode in which electrons cross the barrier by quantum tunnelling, giving it negative resistance. It was the first demonstration of quantum tunnelling in solids.
Nobel Prize in Physics 1973 for Esaki.
What it led to
- microwave oscillators
- tunnelling in superconductors (Giaever)
- semiconductor superlattices (Esaki and Tsu, 1970)