1. Separate reverse leakage from recovery current
Reverse leakage belongs to the diode's static reverse current-voltage description. It concerns current under the stated reverse-bias condition, rather than the current associated with a switching transition. Nexperia separates static behaviour from dynamic behaviour in its diode handbook. Keeping that distinction visible prevents a recovery-related headline from being used as though it specified the settled reverse-leakage characteristic.
Forward-current capability answers another question. A diode can be described by its forward operating role while the reverse-current condition remains important whenever that junction is reverse biased. A comparison based only on the forward-current category has not identified the reverse quantity. Start by locating the applicable reverse characteristic, with the device and its stated measurement conditions still attached.
This also makes the words low leakage meaningful. They must describe a particular static current under particular conditions, rather than a general quality shared by every parameter on the page. If a candidate summary mixes reverse leakage, recovery and forward-current terminology, separate their roles before ranking the proposals. The distinction identifies which evidence addresses the reverse-biased state without constructing a switching model or assigning a recovery time.
2. Retain junction temperature with leakage
Nexperia describes a strong temperature dependence in the forward and reverse characteristics. In its static discussion, increasing temperature accompanies increasing reverse leakage. A value stated for a cooler condition therefore cannot silently become the value for a hotter junction. The temperature coordinate belongs to the characteristic being compared, rather than serving as an optional annotation after the current figure.
Keep junction temperature distinct from a surrounding ambient description. The handbook's reverse-characteristic comparison identifies junction temperature; an application's ambient label does not replace that coordinate. The question is whether the candidate evidence covers the relevant junction condition. It is not answered by noting that both components will sit in the same room or by copying a familiar catalogue temperature into the requirement.
For candidates documented on different temperature bases, identify the mismatch before considering the apparent leakage ranking. The cooler entry may describe a different point of the characteristic, not a better answer to the intended condition. This reasoning establishes why temperature must remain attached; it supplies no numerical extrapolation, temperature-rise estimate or conclusion about the thermal state of an installed diode.
3. Compare voltage basis and forward-leakage trade-off
Reverse voltage is another coordinate of the static comparison. Nexperia deliberately uses an identified reverse-voltage basis when discussing reverse characteristics. Removing that basis can make two leakage entries appear directly comparable when they describe different electrical conditions. Preserve the applied reverse-bias context alongside temperature before deciding whether the available entries address the same engineering question.
The handbook also explains a physical trade-off associated with the Schottky barrier. Changing the barrier choice can change both forward voltage drop and leakage. A lower forward-drop description therefore cannot be treated as independent evidence of lower reverse leakage. The two properties participate in the same design trade-off, even though an application may place different importance on the forward and reverse operating conditions.
A useful candidate assessment keeps those conditions separate but connected. First determine whether each reverse-current description uses an applicable voltage and temperature basis; then identify what forward characteristic is being compared. This avoids selecting a diode through a detached forward-drop advantage while assuming its reverse behaviour follows the same ranking. The qualitative trade-off does not establish a universal technology hierarchy or substitute for the exact device's characteristics.
4. Distinguish pulsed characterization from self-heated operation
Nexperia explicitly states that the illustrated static current-voltage points were measured in pulsed mode to exclude self-heating. That qualification explains what the characterization is intended to isolate. It relates the electrical characteristic to its stated temperature condition without allowing heating during that measurement to determine the result. The qualification is part of the evidence, not a minor detail to remove from a shortened comparison.
Steady operation in an application asks a different thermal question. A pulsed point does not demonstrate the temperature eventually reached while the diode operates in an assembly. Conversely, describing an application as continuous does not convert the handbook's pulsed point into a measured continuous result. Keep the characterization method distinguishable from the operating condition the design needs to assess.
The resulting requirement can identify reverse current, reverse voltage and junction temperature together, then state whether its supporting evidence excludes self-heating. That preserves the static comparison while leaving the application's thermal balance as a separate engineering problem. No thermal-runaway threshold, steady-state temperature or leakage multiplication factor follows from this discussion; the pulsed qualification supports its stated characteristic, rather than proving those additional outcomes.
Sources and further reading
Nexperia Diode Application Handbook, physical pages 11–12 and 15–17, qualitative static-characteristic prose and pulsed-measurement qualification. No numerical curve values, thermal extrapolation or technology ranking is supplied.