During the open circuit voltage decay (OCVD) in a diode with &tgr;B/&tgr;E≫1 (&tgr;Band &tgr;Eare the lifetimes of the minority carriers in the base and emitter, respectively), the quasistatic approximation is found to be valid in the emitter but not in the base. If the band‐gap narrowing &Dgr;Egis significant, &tgr;E,&tgr;B, as well as &Dgr;Egdetermine the OCVD fort<&tgr;B. Fort≫&tgr;B[and exp (qV/kT)≫1] OCVD vstplot is approximately linear with its slope ∼1/&tgr;B, irrespective of the magnitude of &Dgr;Eg.