Test Equipment for current supply and voltage measurement

[JamesHowlett]

Hello,

I have a simple question, which can be answered almost everybody in the forum. I want to supply a dc current to a material from two contact and measure the voltage from another two contact, sort of an I-V measurement. What sort of equipment do I need for it?

I made my small research and I found couple of alternatives such as, keithley 2400 SMU and adjustable power supplies form keithley and Agilent. One is a SMU and the others are power supplies and as far as my knowledge concerned, I should say that I am confused a little bit.

As the requirement:
setting a current value and increasing the value with steps until the end value with defined steps
measuring the voltage simultaneously with the same equipment
logging the data with the pc to calculate the resistance of the material

I know there are lots of answers depends on the precision and the voltage-current ranges, but I ask to have an rough idea about the test equipment.

Cheers!

[w2aew]

Hello,

I have a simple question, which can be answered almost everybody in the forum. I want to supply a dc current to a material from two contact and measure the voltage from another two contact, sort of an I-V measurement. What sort of equipment do I need for it?

I made my small research and I found couple of alternatives such as, keithley 2400 SMU and adjustable power supplies form keithley and Agilent. One is a SMU and the others are power supplies and as far as my knowledge concerned, I should say that I am confused a little bit.

As the requirement:
setting a current value and increasing the value with steps until the end value with defined steps
measuring the voltage simultaneously with the same equipment
logging the data with the pc to calculate the resistance of the material

I know there are lots of answers depends on the precision and the voltage-current ranges, but I ask to have an rough idea about the test equipment.

Cheers!

An SMU is the simplest way to do this, because it allows you to source a specific current or voltage, and measure the resulting voltage or current. You can accomplish some of the same functions with a current limited power supply and DMM, but you have to set it all up manually and you might not be able to achieve 4 quadrant operation. A SMU like the 2400, 2450, etc can do this easily, as well as sweep the stimulus to generate an IV curve etc.

[JamesHowlett]

Hello,

I have a simple question, which can be answered almost everybody in the forum. I want to supply a dc current to a material from two contact and measure the voltage from another two contact, sort of an I-V measurement. What sort of equipment do I need for it?

I made my small research and I found couple of alternatives such as, keithley 2400 SMU and adjustable power supplies form keithley and Agilent. One is a SMU and the others are power supplies and as far as my knowledge concerned, I should say that I am confused a little bit.

As the requirement:
setting a current value and increasing the value with steps until the end value with defined steps
measuring the voltage simultaneously with the same equipment
logging the data with the pc to calculate the resistance of the material

I know there are lots of answers depends on the precision and the voltage-current ranges, but I ask to have an rough idea about the test equipment.

Cheers!

An SMU is the simplest way to do this, because it allows you to source a specific current or voltage, and measure the resulting voltage or current. You can accomplish some of the same functions with a current limited power supply and DMM, but you have to set it all up manually and you might not be able to achieve 4 quadrant operation. A SMU like the 2400, 2450, etc can do this easily, as well as sweep the stimulus to generate an IV curve etc.

Thanks a lot! Now I should find a budget SMU, Keithley is relatively expensive, but I will call the companies on Monday anyway to see whether they can offer something less expensive and more application specific(voltage and current limits wise).

just out of curiosity, isn't there any voltage or current source which can be programmed to scan a current range?

Regards