Gentile Silvester P. Basic Theory and Application of Tunnel Diodes

Toronto etc: 1962. — 295 p. — (Van Nostrand series in electronics and communications).A tunnel diode or Esaki diode is a type of semiconductor diode that has effectively "negative resistance" due to the quantum mechanical effect called tunneling. It was invented in August 1957 by Leo Esaki when working at Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, now known as Sony. Robert Noyce independently devised the idea of a tunnel diode while working for William Shockley, but was discouraged from pursuing it.Tunnel diodes were first manufactured by Sony in 1957, followed by General Electric and other companies from about 1960, and are still made in low volume today.