Spatial oscillations of the electric field and the charge density in a silicon $p$–$i$–$n$ diode

The distributions of the electrical field and the charge density in a $p$–$i$–$n$ diode under forward bias were calculated numerically and studied experimentally with the use of a near-field microwave microscope. The crucial importance of including the dependence of the carrier diffusion coefficient on the electric field into the description of processes taking place in $p$–$i$–$n$ diodes was demonstrated. The numerical results agree qualitatively with the experimental ones.