= Leo Esaki
{c}
{tag=Physicist}
{wiki}
= L. Esaki
{c}
{synonym}
<Leo Esaki> observed a distinctive tunnelling response in heavily doped <germanium> junctions. A narrow barrier allows carriers to tunnel between occupied and empty electronic states on opposite sides. Increasing the voltage can reduce the overlap of available states and hence reduce the current, producing <negative differential resistance>. The effect turns <quantum tunnelling> into a useful device characteristic: a falling current-versus-voltage slope is a local differential property, not a requirement that current and voltage have opposite signs.<New Phenomenon in Narrow Germanium Junctions by Leo Esaki>[Physical Review 109, 603 (1958), narrow-junction tunnelling response]{ref}
A <physicist> whose research includes <semiconductors> and <quantum tunnelling>.<Leo Esaki: IBM research history>[Employer history: semiconductor research and the tunnel diode]{ref}
\Image[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Redirect/file/Leo_Esaki_1959.jpg?width=260]
{title=Portrait of <Leo Esaki>}
{description=Unknown photographer (Asahi Shinbun / The Asahi Shimbun). Public domain under Japanese copyright law (as stated on Commons File page). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leo_Esaki_1959.jpg[Source usage terms], via Wikimedia Commons.}
{source=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leo_Esaki_1959.jpg}
{width=260}
Back to article page
