‫‪Gunn Diode‬‬

‫االسم ‪ :‬آيه محمد عبدالعليم خميس‬

‫السكشن ‪1 :‬‬
Gunn Diode :
A Gunn diode is a passive semiconductor device with two terminals, which composes of only
an n-doped semiconductor material, unlike other diodes which consist of a p-n junction. Gunn
diodes can be made from the materials which consist of multiple, initially-empty, closely-
spaced energy valleys in their conduction band like Gallium Arsenide (GaAs), Indium Phosphide
(InP), Gallium Nitride (GaN), Cadmium Telluride (CdTe), Cadmium Sulfide (CdS), Indium
Arsenide (InAs), Indium Antimonide (InSb) and Zinc Selenide (ZnSe).

Working Principles :
The diode is only made of N-type of material such as gallium arsenide and indium phosphide.
This material have one extra energy band gap instead of having only two energy bands and
that band are valence band and conduction band which is available in normal semiconductor
materials. Initially the third energy band is empty.

When the voltage applied across it, the applied voltage appears on active region. The electron
is transfer from conduction band to third band. The mobility of GaAs in third band is less than
conduction band.

We further increase forward voltage, this voltage increases field strength. The number of
electrons reaching the state at which the effective mass increases by decreasing their velocity,
and thus, the current will decrease.

If we increase the field strength, the drift velocity will decrease. This will produce negative
resistance in V-I relationship. The increment of voltage will increase negative resistance.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Gunn Diode :
The advantage of Gunn diodes include :
✓ lies in the fact that they are the cheapest source of microwaves (compared to other options
such as klystron tubes)
✓ They are compact in size.
✓ They operate over a large bandwidth and possess high frequency stability.

The disadvantages of Gunn diodes include :

✓ They have a high turn-on voltage
✓ They are less efficient below 10 GHz
✓ They exhibit poor temperature stability
✓

Applications of Gunn Diode :

✓ In electronic oscillators to generate microwave frequencies.
✓ In parametric amplifiers as pump sources.
✓ In police radars.
✓ As sensors in door opening systems, trespass detecting systems, pedestrian safety systems,
etc.
✓ As a source for microwave frequencies in automatic door openers, traffic signal controllers,
etc.
✓ In microwave receiver circuits.
✓ In radio communications.
✓ In military systems.
✓ As remote vibration detectors.
✓ In tachometers.
✓ In Pulsed Gunn Diode Generator.
✓ In microelectronics as control equipments.
✓ In radar speed guns.
✓ As microwave relay data link transmitters.
✓ In Continuous Wave Doppler Radars