Question

What is the DC characteristic used to prove that the transistor is indeed biased in saturation mode?

(a) IC = βIB

(b) IC > βIB

(c) IC >> βIB

(d) IC < βIB

The question was posed to me in unit test.

This is a very interesting question from DC Load Lines topic in portion Transistor Characteristics of Electronic Devices & Circuits

Answer 1

Right answer is (d) IC < βIB

The explanation is: When in a transistor is driven into saturation, we use VCE(SAT) as another  linear parameter. In, addition when a transistor is biased in saturation mode, we have IC < βIB. This characteristic used to prove that the transistor is indeed biased in saturation mode.