2N5306 – NPN Darlington Transistor

15 June 2018 - 0 Comments

2N5306 Darlington Transistor

2N5306 Transistor Pinout

2N5306 Pin Configuration

Pin Number	Pin Name	Description
1	Emitter	Current Drains out through emitter, normally connected to ground
2	Base	Controls the biasing of transistor, Used to turn ON or OFF the transistor
3	Collector	Current flows in through collector, normally connected to load

Features and Specifications

NPN Darlington Transistor
High DC Current Gain (hFE), typically 20,000 when IC=100mA
Emitter Base On Voltage (VBE) is 1.5V
Continuous Collector current (IC) is 1.2A
Collector-Emitter voltage (VCE) is 25 V
Collector-Base voltage (VCB) is 25V
Available in To-92 Package

Note: Complete Technical Details can be found at the 2N5306 datasheet given at the end of this page.

Alternative NPN Transistors

BC549, BC636, BC639, BC547, 2N2369, 2N3055, 2N3904, 2N3906, 2SC5200, 2N5551

2N5306 Equivalent Transistors

2N5308

What is a Darlington Transistor?

The Darlington Transistors are made up of two transistors combined togather. Out of which one transistor will be an NPN transistor and the other will be a PNP transistor. Yes the transistor you see above is actually a combination of two transistors provided in a single package to make it easy to use in our circuits.

One very important function of a transistor is its very high current gain. For example the transistor here has a current gain of 20000 and a collector continuous current of 1.2A because of its Darlington properties.

What is Current Gain? Why is it important?

The current gain is an important property for a Darlington transistor. It decides how much times the load current can be amplified based on the input current to the bias pin. As we know a transistor is turned on by providing an input current to the base pin (current controlled device) and when it turns on it allows the load current to flow through it which can be given by the formulae

Load current=i/p current X transistor gain

So for loads consuming high power it becomes mandatory to increase the base current. But in some application, the base current will be limited and cannot be increase during which we have to increase the transistor gain. This is exactly where a Darlington transistor comes in.

Where to use 2N5306 Darlington Transistor?

The 2N5306 transistor is very much similar to the commonly used NPN transistors, but it is way more powerful than those since it is a Darlington transistor. Normal transistor have a current gain for around 100-300 but our Darlington transistor has a gain of 20000 hence it can be easily used in amplifier applications. Since it is a combination of two circuits it can also allows high current to pass through it (upto 1.2A) which makes it ideal for high current applications. The only considerable drawback of this transistor is that the base voltage is high, it is around 1.5V

Hence if you are looking for a NPN Darlington transistor with high collector continuous current and a good current gain , then this transistor might be the right choice for you.