Correlations between reverse recovery time and lifetime of p-n junction driven by a current ramp

When a p-n junction is switched from the forward to the reverse direction by a current ramp, the reverse recovery time trris found 1) either to be equal to the base lifetime τ if the ramp rateR IF / τ, 2) to be equal to 0.79τ ifR ≈ IF / τ, or 3) to be equal to 0.7 τ ifR IF / τ. These results afford correlations between τrrand τ and also provide the basis for a useful method for measuring τ.