Highest gain NPN Transistor

[abbarue]

I'm looking for the highest gain NPN Transistor.
It could take hours to go through thousands of transistors available,
to find the ones with the highest gain.
(Not using multiple transistors internally)
I see the 2N3904 has a max. gain of 300. But Typical is only about 100.
I'm looking for any transistors that have a gain of 250 or greater.
Low current high speed switching is fine doesn't need to be high current.
I'm hoping someone here has a means of listing them according to gain.
Or maybe direct me to a site selling them that lists them in order of gain.

Thanks.

 

[picbits]

Look at Darlington transistors if you want high gain

 

[audioguru]

hFE is DC current gain.
hfe is AC current gain.

The 2N3904 transistor has an hFE from 100 to 300 when its current is 10mA and its VCE is 1V. It is typically 230 on the graph.
Its hfe is typically 175 at 1kHz when its current is 10mA and its VCE is 10V.

Some European transistors have their hFE batched in A for low, B for medium and C for high groups. A BC549C has a typical hFE of 500 when its current is 10mA and its VCE is 5V.

A 2N5089 has a typical hFE of 600 when its current is 3mA (it drops at higher currents) and its VCE is 5V, and is a minimum of 400 at a current of 10mA.
Its hfe is from 450 to 1800 at 1kHz when its current is 1mA and its VCE is 5V.

This is current gain. The circuit determines the voltage gain.

 

[KMoffett]

I've used 2N2484's for high gain switching purposes.
Data Sheet: https://www.electro-tech-online.com/custompdfs/2008/11/2n2484.pdf
At Mouser: 610-2N2484
At Digikey: **broken link removed**

Ken

 

[Papabravo]

Don't waste your time since the actual gain of an individual unit may be on either tail of the distribution. Good designers don't design circuits which depend on a specific gain value from a component for reasons which should be altogether manifest.

Your time would be better spent selecting a part from a list of those which are available and have no lead time.

 

[Speakerguy]

Use a mosfet

 

[Roff]

If you tell us what you are actually trying to do, we might be able to offer solutions you never even considered.

Or not.

 

[mneary]

You need to learn how to sort by parameter at Digikey. They quickly find six ROHM part numbers in stock with HFEmin 1200 at 1 mA 5V.