Experimental nonlinearity coefficients for the tungsten- nickel point-contact diode

Current-voltage characteristic curves of W-Ni diode contacts were determined experimentally, and are represented by the coefficients of polynomials of the fifth order fitted to the curves. Estimates of the accuracy of the coefficients are given, and main features of the curves and of the coefficients are discussed. It is observed that details of the characteristics only up to the second order are modeled fairly well by the WKB tunneling theory with trapezoidal potential barrier.