On the Backward Leakage Current in the Alloyed Germanium p-n Junction

It has been observed that the “creep” phenomenon often found in the backward direction of the alloyed germanium p-n junction occurred in the so-called “leakage current component”. It has also been found that in some of the alloyed junction transistor samples, the characteristics of the collector junction was influenced by the creep in the emitter junction. The experimental procedures and results are described. Although we have no complete theory to explain these experimental observations at present, some essential remarks are given from theoretical consideration. In the last section, an experimental result which might be an evidence for the correlation between the creep phenomenon and the surface field effect is given.