Determination of minority-carrier lifetimes of bipolar transistors from low-current hFEfall-off

The minority-carrier lifetimes τ
n0
and τ
p0
of bipolar transistors are determined from low-cufrent h
FE
fall-off. The relative magnitude of surface space-charge-layer recombination current is taken into account. This method is particularly attractive in achieving accurate computer models of bipolar transistors suitable for network analysis and design.