I've designed an audio distortion circuit using tunnel diodes (or at least have one in the prototyping phase), and I managed to use the Falstad simulator to play around with different kinds of diodes. I found out about tunneling diodes earlier today, and I wanted to use them because, well, they're quantum-y! According to the textbook on here, they're a bit rare, and pretty expensive. But, I don't want to have to go through the hassle of making lambda diodes out of p-, and n-channel FETs—especially since lambda diodes operate at higher voltages than tunneling diodes—though I'll kinda have to settle for them if tunneling diodes are pretty much relics. But, if there's some company out there that still makes tunneling diodes, does anyone know where to get them?
Tunneling diode distortion circuit
A schematic of the circuit can be seen below.
Playing around with Falstad's simulator online, I stuck the two tunneling didoes into the circuit like that. I found out that they would do some pretty weird distortions to the signal inputted, causing a bunch of what I can describe as small square waves; which isn't a surprise seeing the characteristic curve—but knowing practically nothing about it, I was really impressed with how it made an input waveform look. I also found out that the amount of distortion and the amplitude were basically linked to the RC value of the circuit. The common-emitter amp is there just to boost the output signal once it's gone through the tunneling diodes, since they can also cause the signal to lose amplitude. (Tunneling diodes act pretty weird in general—which is great for making some experimental audio effects.)
Obviously, there's still a lot of design work left to be done. I need to actually design the amplifier, then figure out what C1 value I want to use. However, I'm generally happy with how it is so far. Criticism is welcome on the circuit though.
A sketch of what the input/output waveforms looked like can be seen below. I forgot to screencap them when I played around with the circuit sim.
Tunneling diode distortion circuit
A schematic of the circuit can be seen below.
Playing around with Falstad's simulator online, I stuck the two tunneling didoes into the circuit like that. I found out that they would do some pretty weird distortions to the signal inputted, causing a bunch of what I can describe as small square waves; which isn't a surprise seeing the characteristic curve—but knowing practically nothing about it, I was really impressed with how it made an input waveform look. I also found out that the amount of distortion and the amplitude were basically linked to the RC value of the circuit. The common-emitter amp is there just to boost the output signal once it's gone through the tunneling diodes, since they can also cause the signal to lose amplitude. (Tunneling diodes act pretty weird in general—which is great for making some experimental audio effects.)
Obviously, there's still a lot of design work left to be done. I need to actually design the amplifier, then figure out what C1 value I want to use. However, I'm generally happy with how it is so far. Criticism is welcome on the circuit though.
A sketch of what the input/output waveforms looked like can be seen below. I forgot to screencap them when I played around with the circuit sim.