A shorthand reference to a Darlington pair, a compound structure consisting of two bipolar junction transistors. The emitter of the first transistor feeds directly into the base of the second, multiplying their individual current gains together. Engineers often use the single word when referring to pre-packaged integrated circuits that contain this arrangement.
Heard on the job
Swap out that standard NPN for a Darlington if you want to drive the relay directly from the logic pin.
Also heard as
- Darlington pair
Related terms
Darlington pair
Two bipolar transistors connected to act as a single unit with highly multiplied current gain.
Transconductance
The electrical property relating the current output of a device to its voltage input.
Sziklai pair
A compound transistor configuration using one NPN and one PNP transistor to achieve high current gain.