Keysight Technologies B2980A Series User manual

Keysight Technologies

Using an External Trigger to Measure Current with

B2980A Series

B2980A Femto/Picoammeter and Electrometer/High Resistance

Meter

Demo Guide

Introduction

The Keysight Technologies, Inc. B2980A Series of Femto/Picoammeters and Electrometers/High Resistance

Meters offers not only the best-in-class measurement performance, but also unprecedented measurement

features that can maximize your measurement confidence as you expect.

The femto/picoammeters and electrometers both offer 0.01 fA (10-17 A) minimum current resolution, which

should meet most of your existing and future low-level current measurement

needs.

The electrometers feature a 1,000 V voltage sourcing capability that supports up to 10 PΩ (1016 Ω) resistance

measurements. The electrometers also work with Keysight’s well-proven high resistance meter accessories.

The femto/picometer and electrometer/high resistance meter both have battery-powered versions that

eliminate AC power-line noise. This low-noise environment allows you to make very sensitive, low-level

measurements that were previously impossible.

Unlike conventional picoammeters and electrometers, the B2980A series features a 4.3” color LCD graphical

user interface (GUI) enabling various viewing capabilities such as numeric, graph, histogram and roll (trend

chart), which allows you to easily capture the transient behavior or to efficiently make a quick statistical

analysis without using an external PC.

This demonstration guide highlights the excellent measurement and triggering capabilities of the B2980A

series. The methodology involves sending an electronic trigger signal to a B2980A series electometer and

making a current measurement. In this example, the electrometer receives an external trigger signal with

specific timing parameters, such as 500 ms measurement delay, while sourcing 1 V across 100 GΩresistor.

Required Instrument and Accessories

All of the accessories required to perform the demos described in this demonstration guide are provided in a demo kit

that is included with Keysight B2987A demo units except for the external trigger source.

Keysight B2987A Electrometer B2981-61715

Banana to lug cable 16494A-001 Triax cable

16493B-001 Coaxial cableN1422A High resistance demo kit

U8201-60001

Xtention lead set for straight plugs

03 | Keysight | Using an External Trigger to Measure Current with B2980A Series – Demo Guide

Concept

Figure 1 illustrates the connection diagram and basic setup conditions for the demo,

which uses a B2985A/87A ammeter to make current measurements whenever it receives

an external trigger signal. The B2980A series will measure current using the settings

shown below while sourcing voltage across the resistor.

Figure 1. Connection diagram and basic condition

Figure 2 shows the parameters used to define the measurement timing from the instru-

ment’s front panel. The specified source value is outputted immediately after pressing

Voltage Source . Next, you will need to configure the B2985A/87A ammeter to

accept an external trigger and make a current measurement.

Figure 3 shows the external trigger signal requirements to initiate a current measurement

from the ammeter. Positive or negative logic can be used to set the external trigger pulse.

Input

Common

High

Low

B2985A/87A

Ammeter

B2985A/87A

Voltage Source

External Trigger Signal

Trigger In

DUT : 100 GΩResistor

Sourced Voltage : 1 V

Measure Delay : 300 μs

Trigger Count : Any or INF.

J1J2

N1422A (DUT)

Figure 2. Timing chart for the current measurement

External TriggerOutput ON

Source Value

Output

Off State

Time

TMD TAP TMD TAP

TMP

TMD TAP

TMP TMP

TAP : Aperture Time

TMD : Measure Delay TMP : Measure Trigger Period

: Measurement

tW: Trigger Pulse Width > 10 µs

Time

Positive Logic

5 V

Time

Negative Logic

5 V tW

Figure 3. External trigger signal requirements

04 | Keysight | Using an External Trigger to Measure Current with B2980A Series – Demo Guide

Setup

Connection

1. Connect the Common terminal to the Earth terminal of the B2985A/87A with a banana to

screw-lug cable.

2. Connect the Voltage Source Low terminal to the Common terminal of the B2985A/87A with a

black banana test lead.

3. Connect the Ammeter Input terminal of the B2985A/87A to the J1 terminal of the N1422A with

a triaxial cable.

4. Connect the Voltage Source High terminal of the B2985A/87A to the J2 terminal of the N1422A

with a red banana test lead.

5. Connect the trigger source to the Trigger In port of the B2985A/87A with a BNC cable.

N1422A B2985A/87A Terminals

05 | Keysight | Using an External Trigger to Measure Current with B2980A Series – Demo Guide

LAB: Using external trigger signals and a B2980A series ammeter to make a

current measurement.

Objective

This demo illustrates the ability of a

B2980A series ammeter to respond to

an external trigger and make a current

measurement.

Procedure

1. Change View mode to Meter View

Confirm the measurement parameter

3. Configure the trigger condition

4. (Optional) Configure voltage source

condition

5. Initiate the ammeter to wait for an

external trigger signal

6. (Optional) Abort the ammeter to

stop waiting for an external trigger

signal

7. (Optional) If you’d like to change

aperture mode

8. (Optional) If you’d like to change

measurement range operation

Demonstration

1. Change View mode to Meter View

1) Press repeatedly until the Meter View appears

on the screen.

2. Confirm the measurement parameter

Make sure that the measurement parameter is set to current.

If it is NOT set to current, take the procedure “2)” to set it to current.

2) (Optional) Press to set the measurement parameter to current.

3. Configure the trigger condition

1) Press and then press to show the Trigger Sub-Panel.

2) Press to edit the Trigger type, and then select to set the Trigger type to

MANUAL.

06 | Keysight | Using an External Trigger to Measure Current with B2980A Series – Demo Guide

Rotate to select the Measure trigger delay and press to edit it. Then

enter 500 ms to set the Measure trigger delay to 500 ms.

4) Rotate to select the Measure trigger period and press to edit it. Then

enter 1 s to set the Measure trigger period to 1 s, which should be longer than the

sum of the measurement delay time and the aperture time.

Rotate to select the Measure trigger source and press to edit it.

6) Press , , to change the keys shown in Assist keys, and then

press to set the Measure trigger source to Trigger In port.

7) Press , , , and then press to open the BNC

Configuration dialogue.

(1) Press System Menu

(2) Press More…(1 of 2)

(3) Press I/O

(4) Press BNC…

07 | Keysight | Using an External Trigger to Measure Current with B2980A Series – Demo Guide

Press to edit the Input Polarity, and then press to set it to Positive polarity.

Press to make save your settings.

10)

Rotate to select the Measure trigger count and press to edit it. Then enter

the Number of trigger signals which will be sent to the instrument as the Measure trigger

count.

11)

Or press to set it to INFINITY if you’d like to continue to measure current until it

is aborted.

If you set the trigger count to INFINITY, be sure you abort the process at the end of the

test.

08 | Keysight | Using an External Trigger to Measure Current with B2980A Series – Demo Guide

4. (Optional) Configure voltage source condition

The B2987A has an internal voltage source. This demo makes use of it to source voltage

across the resistor and induce current across it.

1) Rotate to select the Voltage source and press to edit it.

2) Then rotate until the Voltage Source value reaches 1 V and press to fix it.

3) Press Voltage Source to enable Voltage Source.

5. Initiate the ammeter to wait for an external trigger signal

1) Press Ammeter to enable Ammeter

2) Press , , , and then press to make the ammeter

ready to receive an external trigger signal.

(1) Press System Menu

(2) Press Trigger

(3) Press Initiate

(4) Press Acq.

09 | Keysight | Using an External Trigger to Measure Current with B2980A Series – Demo Guide

When the B2980A series ammeter is ready, send the external trigger signal to it and

make the current measurement.

6. (Optional) Abort the ammeter to stop waiting for an external trigger

signal

If you set the measure trigger count to INFINITY, or the number of external trigger

signals was less than the specified measure trigger count, be sure you abort the process

at the end of the test.

Press , , , and then press to make the ammeter

stop waiting for an external trigger signal.

7. (Optional) If you’d like to change the aperture mode

The automatic aperture mode is selected in the default setting and Normal is selected

as the aperture type. When the automatic aperture mode is selected, an appropriate

aperture time is set automatically by the instrument depending on the current measure-

ment range. If the manual aperture mode is selected, the instrument uses the aperture

time specified by the user.

Press the measurement navigation key to select shorter aperature type.

(1) Press System Menu

(2) Press Trigger

(3) Press Abort

(4) Press Acq.

10 | Keysight | Using an External Trigger to Measure Current with B2980A Series – Demo Guide

2) Press the measurement navigation key to select longer aperature type.

3) For example, if you’d like to select the manual aperture mode, press .

4) If you’d like to set the mode to the automatic aperture mode again, press .

5) If you’d like to set the aperture mode to the default one, press , the center of

the measurement navigation key.

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