By applying a light electrical stress at room temperature to an ALE grown, double mesa processed DHBT and comparing the experimental data with numerical simulations, interesting new results are obtained on the stability of a Be doped base layer. For the first time the negative shift of V-BE is demonstrated to be a consequence of Be outdiffusion and a quantitative investigation of the outdiffusion length into an intrinsic setback layer is carried out. The role of band-gap narrowing is also explained. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd