In this paper, the forward-biased gated-diode technique is proposed as a simple and reliable method for the determination of the recombination parameters in thin-film, fully depleted SOI MOS devices. Using modeling of gated-controlled volume and surface recombination components the behavior of the recombination current in a thin-film SOI gated-diode is analyzed. Measurement conditions simplifying the extraction of the recombination parameters and enabling discrimination between volume and surface contributions are described. The method has been applied to study recombination processes in the devices made on different SOI materials (UNIBOND, SIMOX, ZMR). (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.