Features of a tunnel diode oscillator at different temperatures

Current–voltage measurements were performed on a tunnel diode (TD) and the basic features of the I–V characteristics were analyzed in the temperature range 100–300 K. Based on these characteristics, a TD-based oscillator is designed and simulated using circuit analysis software (PSpice). It is shown, in particular, that the amplitude and the frequency of the obtained sinusoidal waveforms can be practically temperature independent provided that the diode is adequately biased in its negative conductance region.