hFE (transistor gain)
hFE is a transistor’s DC current gain, the ratio of its collector current to its base current. On a multimeter it marks the transistor test position and its small socket.
How to read it
Toshiba’s guide to transistors defines hFE as the ratio of collector current to base current, IC/IB, called DC current gain: a small base current IB lets a current of IB × hFE flow from collector to emitter.
Mastech’s MAS838 manual describes the setting. A transistor’s emitter, base and collector leads go into the marked holes of the hFE socket on the front panel, which has holes for NPN and PNP transistors, and the meter shows an approximate hFE at a base current of 10 µA and 3 V between collector and emitter, over a range of 0 to 1000. None of the Fluke, Klein or Extech manuals used for these pages has an hFE setting.
Also searched as: beta, hFE on a multimeter, hFE socket, NPN PNP socket, transistor test.
These pages describe what each setting, marking and reading means. They are not instructions for measuring anything. Meters differ between makers and models: the meter’s own manual says what each of its symbols means, which measurements it is rated for, and how to use it safely.
Why the reading is approximate
The figure depends on the test conditions. Mastech gives its reading as approximate, at the one base current and voltage the meter uses, and ROHM gives hFE’s temperature coefficient as about 0.5 % per °C, so the same transistor reads differently warm and cold.
Read next
- Next in Multimeter symbolsCOM jackCOM is the common jack: the black test lead’s socket, used for every measurement. It is the low, or negative, side of the meter’s input.
- The same shape in US flag variantsPOW/MIA flagThe flag of the National League of POW/MIA Families, designated by federal law as the symbol of the nation’s commitment to account for Americans held as prisoners of war or missing in action.
More multimeter symbols
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with letters and numbers.
Sources
- MAS838 Digital Multimeter: Operator’s Instruction Manual, MAS838 manual, Mastech (copy hosted by Akizuki Denshi), Specifications; Transistor test; Safety information
- Bipolar transistors: basic characteristics, Toshiba e-learning, discrete semiconductors, chapter 3, Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation, Chapter 3-2, amplification
- What is a digital transistor?, ROHM Electronics Basics: transistors, ROHM Semiconductor, Temperature characteristics
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 9, 2026. How we research
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