The Read diode - An avalanching, transit-time, negative-resistance oscillator

Theory of the mm Wave IMPATT Diode: A Review

“…The most attractive one is the Impatt mode, an acronym for IMPact ionisation Avalanche Transit Time signifying the basic physical mechanisms involved. The theory of the device was first presented by Read in 1958 [I] and the experimental realisation oflmpatt operation was exhibited by Lee eta/ [2] and Johnston et a/ [·3). At present lmpatt can safely be operated above 200 GHz.…”

“…The tunnel current through p-n junction is given by (2) where q is electronic charge, Eg is the band gap energy, n = h/2tr, h being the Planck's constant, m* is the effective mass of electrons and E = (Vg + Va) /Ia, Ia being the avalanche zone width.…”

50 years of communication circuits at ISSCC

“…Another negative-resistance device, anticipated theoretically in 1958, had its ISSCC debut in 1965 in "The Read Diode -An Avalanching Transit-Time, NegativeResistance Oscillator", by C. A. Lee, R. L. Batdorf, W. Wiegmann, and G. Kaminsky [6], with reports of oscillations in the 100-200MHz frequency range using a simple circuit. Avalanche-mode diodes progressed to supplying 10 dB of gain at millimeter wave frequencies by 1974 (H. Hayashi, F. Iwai, T. Fujita, M. Akaike, H. Kato, "80GHz IMPATT Amplifier" [7]).…”