Gunn Diode

a semiconductor device whose operation is based on the Gunn effect.

The basic element of the Gunn diode is a semiconductor crystal made of gallium arsenide, indium phosphide, or the like, from one to hundreds of microns thick and joined to two ohmic contacts. The crystal’s specific resistance is from ~0.001 to ~0.01 ohm·m. The Gunn effect arises when the critical field intensity (approximately 300 kilovolts per meter for gallium arsenide) is reached. Gallium arsenide is used in the manufacture of industrial Gunn diodes. The diodes are used for amplification and generation of electric oscillations, with a power on the order of several kilowatts (under impulse operating conditions) or hundreds of milliwatts (under constant-current operating conditions) at frequencies from ~0.1 to ~100 million kilocycles; they are used also in making the fast-acting logical and functional elements of electronic devices.