A novel technique of analysis of excess carrier behavior in semiconductors, based upon conservation of carrier fluxes, after allowing for generation and recombination, is applied to semiconductorp‐njunctions and simple junction devices. It is assumed that the junction acts as a source of excess minority carriers with respect to the bulk material on either side of the junction, and that the flux strength associated with the junction is proportional to exp (eV/kT), whereVis the bias voltage appearing across the junction. In the case of the planarp‐njunction in an infinite semiconductor, the usual exponential current‐voltage dependence is obtained, but a more general expression for the saturation current than that obtained from the conventional diffusion calculation is exhibited. In particular, it is shown that for sufficiently low‐carrier lifetime in the bulk material adjacent to the junction, the saturation current is less than that predicted by the conventional diffusion calculation, and becomes independent of lifetime in the low‐lifetime limit. The application of the method to simple device structures is also discussed, and a simplep‐nphotovoltaic cell is considered as an example. Here again the current‐voltage dependence (which is related to the boundary condition at the junction rather than to diffusion and recombination phenomena in the bulk) is unaltered, but modified expressions for saturation and generation currents are obtained. Applicability of the method is currently limited to one‐dimensional, field‐free, steady‐state situations.