Chapter 15 - multiple-valued negative resistance integrated circuits

Abstract

Solid state electronics has increased the availability of negative resistance devices, facilitating implementation of a variety of circuits that have two or more states of equilibrium, pulse generators, sine wave and relaxation oscillators, conventional and parametric amplifiers, and multistable circuits. Whenever a port of a circuit exhibits a negative resistance, the circuit contains a source of power. Irrespective of its origin, the negative resistance may be electrically characterized into one of two complementary classes, namely, voltage-controlled or current-controlled. The two types of negative resistances may be utilized as a basis for generating multivalued energy levels or stable states. The number of stable states and their relative spacing can be varied. Several independent physical phenomena in unipolar and bipolar semiconductor junction devices and integrated structures lead to voltage and current controlled negative resistance without the use of external feedback. These include avalanche breakdown, quantum mechanical tunneling, and minority carrier storage.