Diffusion capacitance

Diffusion Capacitance is the capacitance due to transport of charge carriers between two terminals of a device, for example, the diffusion of carriers from anode to cathode in forward bias mode of a diode or from emitter to baseforward-biased junction for a transistor. In a semiconductor device with a current flowing through it (for example, an ongoing transport of charge by diffusion) at a particular moment there is necessarily some charge in the process of transit through the device. If the applied voltage changes to a different value and the current changes to a different value, a different amount of charge will be in transit in the new circumstances. The change in the amount of transiting charge divided by the change in the voltage causing it is the diffusion capacitance. The adjective "diffusion" is used because the original use of this term was for junction diodes, where the charge transport was via the diffusion mechanism. See Fick's laws of diffusion.