A detailed analytical study of the transient behaviour of a bistable tunnel diode circuit has been made using an accurate empirical curve fitting expression for tunnel diode characteristics. The forward and reverse characteristics of a practical bistable trigger to a stop input excitation have been predicted in terms of device parameters and operating conditions. The effect of a small inductance on switching time has also been investigated and it is found that it helps in speeding up the switching process. The conditions of effective switching have also been obtained from analytical considerations and the influence of overdrive has been reported. The analysis shows that the switching time depends on the average resistance of various segments and no special contribution of negative resistance is found so far as switching time is concerned. The proposed analytical procedure is found to be very suitable for the ready evaluation of the transient characteristics of a tunnel diode under different circuit conditions as it involves only a curve fitting and a few known device parameters. © 1969, Walter de Gruyter. All rights reserved.
