germanium has a very special electronic structure: when you apply voltage, the current flow initially increases, as you would expect. After a certain threshold, however, the current flow decreases again – this is called negative differential resistance. With the help of the control electrode, we can modulate at which voltage this threshold lies.
Sounds like basically it can switch the behavior of a FET from N-channel to P-channel (or perhaps inverting the input) via a control line. The only benefit seems to be reduced transistor count. Digital is digital, and there is always an equivalent circuit using whatever technology you want, even relays or vacuum tubes.
>germanium has a very special electronic structure: when you apply voltage, the current flow initially increases, as you would expect. After a certain threshold, however, the current flow decreases again – this is called negative differential resistance. With the help of the control electrode, we can modulate at which voltage this threshold lies.
Sounds like basically it can switch the behavior of a FET from N-channel to P-channel (or perhaps inverting the input) via a control line. The only benefit seems to be reduced transistor count. Digital is digital, and there is always an equivalent circuit using whatever technology you want, even relays or vacuum tubes.
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