Variable radix multistable integrated circuits

By means of multistable states in semiconductor junction devices treated in this paper, it is demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally that it is feasible to fabricate discrete and integrated circuits with a variable number of stable states. With negative resistance interactions, additional stable states may be realized, leading to integrated circuits with radices higher than binary. Several independent physical phenomena in unipolar and bipolar semiconductor pn junction devices and integrated structures lead to voltage and current-controlled negative resistance without the use of external feedback. These include avalanche breakdown, quantum mechanical tunneling, and minority carrier storage. Two complementary types of negative resistances may be utilized as a basis for generating multistable energy levels.