The improvement in reverse recovery of power NPN bipolar transistor (BJT) through incorporation of ''universal contact" in the base is studied in detail. It is shown that use of universal contact allows redistribution of base current in saturation from collector region where recombination lifetime is high to extrinsic base region where effective recombination lifetime is low. The reverse recovery time decreases as collector current density increases but increases as collector breakdown voltage increases. The improvement in reverse recovery is accompanied with an increase in collector-emitter voltage in the ON state. For low voltage transistors and high voltage transistors at low collector current densities, the increase is primarily due to reduction in reverse current gain. For high breakdown voltage transistors, the use of universal contact results in early onset of quasi-saturation effect and results in degradation in ON state voltage at high collector current densities. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.