Toshiba bipolar transistors exhibit low saturation voltage

Toshiba Corp. has announced the availability of a new family of bipolar power transistors that are based on the companys 3G high-efficiency mesh emitter transistor (Hi-MET III) design, and exhibits a lower saturation voltage between collector and emitter, as well as a higher gain characteristic, compared to traditional bipolar transistors.

Applications for the transistor family in portable electronics include load switches for power management, LCD backlighting inverters, dc/dc converters, charging circuits for built-in rechargeable batteries, and series regulators.

The low saturation voltage minimizes transistor losses in a circuit, while the high current gain enables the transistors to be driven using a small base current. These results to a higher power efficiency, providing portable devices with longer battery lifetimes. An example is the 2SC5755 transistor that offers a maximum saturation voltage of 0.12V with a current gain from 400 to 1,000.

The transistors are rated from -50V to 50V, -3A to 4A, and consume up to 1W. Gain is between 140 and 1,000. They are available in single- and dual-channel npn or pnp configurations. The transistors are available in 3-pin TSM packages measuring 2.8-by-by-2.9-by-0.7mm, 6-pin VS-6 that measures 2.8-by-2.9-by-0.7mm, and the 3-pin PW-MINI measures 4.6-by-2.5-by-1.6mm.