The DC current—Voltage characteristics of diodes under high-injection conditions

The (J-V) characteristics of n
⁺
-p-p
⁺
diodes operating under high injection are calculated using a simplified analysis which is in very good agreement with an exact numerical calculation. The analysis is restricted to the case of negligible recombination in the lowly doped base. It is demonstrated that at high injection the commonly used approximation
J = J_{s} \exp (V/2V_{t})
is not valid if the current results from both electron and hole flow.