Tunnel (Esaki) Diode

← EDC

Degenerately-doped pn with Fermi level inside both bands. Quantum-mechanical tunneling through the thin barrier gives an N-shaped I-V with negative differential resistance.

Material & Doping

NDR (negative differential resistance) appears between Vpeak ≈ 50 mV and Vvalley ≈ 500 mV. PT ratio (Ipeak/Ivalley) is material-dependent.
✍ Derivation — click to expand

Depletion Approximation — Visualised

Charge density ρ(x) and electric field E(x). The depletion region is extremely narrow (W < 15 nm) due to degenerate doping on both sides — this thin barrier enables quantum tunneling.

Sweep: idle
Vbi vs Temperature
W, E_max vs V_bias