Atlas DCA User Guide September 2014 – Rev 11
Page 15
Current Gain (h
FE
)
The DC current gain (h
FE
) is displayed
after any special transistor features have
been displayed.
DC current gain is simply the ratio of the
collector current (less leakage) to the
base current for a particular operating
condition. The Atlas DCA measures h
FE
at a collector current of 2.50mA and a
collector-emitter voltage of between 2V
and 3V.
The gain of all transistors can vary
considerably with collector current,
collector voltage and also temperature.
The displayed value for gain therefore
may not represent the gain experienced
at other collector currents and voltages.
This is particularly true for large
devices.
Darlington transistors can have very high gain values and more variation of
gain will be evident as a result of this.
Additionally, it is quite normal for transistors of the same type to have a wide
range of gain values. For this reason, transistor circuits are often designed so
that their operation has little dependence on the absolute value of current gain.
The displayed value of gain is very useful however for comparing transistors of
a similar type for the purposes of gain matching or fault finding.
Current gain
h
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