Design and Analysis of an Ultra-High Speed, Tunnel Diode, Digital to Analog Converter (Decoder)

摘要

The capabilities and limitations of the tunnel diode as they apply to an ultra-high speed binary weighted ladder decoder were studied. A tunnel diode controlled gate was developed and the suitability of this circuit for implementing the binary sources of a current mode decoder was established. Equations describing decoder errors (both random and deterministic), static design procedures, and dyanmic operation were developed from theoretical considerations. A design example was included to demonstrate the evaluation of these equations for representative parameter values and to provide the basis for experimental verification of the theoretical procedure. Digital computer programs were developed to solve both the static and dynamic nonlinear equations of state. On the basis of the design example, it was shown that a decoder accuracy of better than one part in 1,000 and data rates up to 5 X 10 to the 8th power bits/sec (to five per cent accuracy) can be obtained with presently available components and relatively unsophisticated construction techniques. Finally, laboratory measurements were conducted on an experimental model of the decoder switch and, with the aid of the digital computer simulation program, satisfactory verification of the static and dynamic characteristics predicted in the theoretical study was obtained. (Author)