Beta / Hfe of SSM2212 Packages

Hello Driz,

This is a very good question. This is an older part so all the people who worked on it are no longer around. I have asked some of our current analog design engineers to see if they have a good explanation. 

I will get back to you when I hear back.

Thanks,

Dave T

Hello Driz,

Sorry for the long delay. It took a while to track this down. 

As it turns out the part was first released in the SOIC package and then five years later it was released in the QFN package. So the two parts are not built from the same die at all. They are different dies and there was most likely a silicon process update that had been made during the five years of time. So the die is different and there must be some process changes that in turn caused the hFe to be drastically different. 

I hope this helps.

Thanks for asking!

Dave T