What is Forced Beta?

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Digital Switching: Transistor Saturation and Forced Beta

Transistors are often used as controlled switches in digital circuits. For example, a transistor may be used as a buffer allowing a microcontroller to activate a relay or LED. For these digital applications, we want the transistor to be saturated so that the collector to emitter appears as a short circuit; like a closed switch, current is free to flow from emitter to collector. In this post we will explore saturation and complications arising from nonlinear response of the transistor’s beta, es…