Variation of minority carrier lifetime with level of injection in p-n-junction devices

Minority-carrier lifetime as a function of level of injection has been measured for a number of Si and Ge p-n-junction diodes using reverse recovery and forward current-induced voltage decay methods. It is found that the lifetime always increases with injection level if the effect of the finite thickness of the base of the diode is taken into account while interpreting the experimental results. The decrease in the lifetime values reported in the literature appears to be due to erroneous interpretation of the experimental data.