There are many NPN transistors, such as the 2N3045, etc., but one of the best known and used is the 2N3055. This bipolar transistor is general purpose for power circuits. It is created through epitaxy processes to grow the semiconductor layers of which it is composed and is then encapsulated in a metal package.
There is certainly not a lot of information about this semiconductor device, since it is not very complex, but you we tell everything you need to know about him so that you can add it in your future implementations of your circuits and more interesting projects.
Features and pinout of the 2n3055
Like other transistors, El 2N3055 has 3 connections for the emitter, base and collector. We have already discussed this in other articles about transistors. Therefore, zero doubts about the pinout of this NPN transistor. The configuration is that of pin 1 for the base, to be used as a switch for the current to pass through the semiconductor or not, pin 2 is the emitter (normally connected to GND or ground), and the collector which is actually the TAB since there is no third pin (normally connected to power).
2n3055 transistor can be used for medium power circuits, it is safe, it has a low saturation between the collector-emitter voltage, the packaging is available lead-free, it has a gain of more than 70 hFE for direct current (linear), the maximum voltage that can handle or pass through the collector and emitter is 60v for DC, the same as the maximum current that can pass through the collector is 15A continuously.
For the base, the limits are at 7v (base-emitter) and 7A DC in both cases. In the case of the voltage between the collector and the base, it can reach 100v. If we look at the temperature at which it can operate, the range is between -65 to + 200ºC. Therefore, it works at extreme temperatures without problem, something that not all electronic devices tolerate, especially if you look at the maximum supported temperature. By the way, in terms of power dissipation, it reaches 115W, not negligible ...
Features Summary:
- Type: NPN
- For medium power circuits
- Gain 70 hFE
- Collector-emitter 60v DC
- Collector current 15 A DC
- Base-emitter 7v
- Basis 7A
- Collector-base 100v
- Operational temperature -65 to + 200ºC
- Dissipated Power 115W
- Metallic encapsulation
Equivalent and complementary
There are some equivalent transistors for the 2n3055. You can use them as substitutes like 2n6673 and 2n6675. Other similar but not the same transistors are the MJ10023, BUX98 and BDW51. Without problem you can use them in your circuits as an alternative, now, you should read the datasheets of all of them well to see the possible differences, since they may not be the same in some cases and could generate problems in extreme cases.
If you wonder about the complementary, that is, the opposite, you can see the MJ2955. In this case, it is an almost sister transistor, identical in many of the characteristics described in the previous section, but it is a bipolar PNP instead of an NPN. Knowing the complements can sometimes help us a lot in our circuit compositions, that's why we always include it in our posts.
Datasheets
For compose your circuits safely and maintaining the supported ranges For this device, you should see the datasheets of these devices. It can be manufactured by very different manufacturers, and all of them have their own datasheet in which there could be some differences. Freescale, STMicroelectronics, and Siemens are some of the best-known manufacturers, although there are more.
So that your future power switching circuits, amplifiers, PWM, regulators, signal amplifiers, and the long etc. of circuits that can be composed with the 2n3055, you can get the datasheets here:
- Various datasheets from various manufacturers.
- ON Semiconductor 2n3055: since other times we have used the ON Semiconductor datasheet for other electronic devices, here is the datasheet of this company for the transistor in question ...