Keysight B2900A User manual

Keysight Technologies

Using Source/Measure Unit as a Voltmeter

B2900A Precision Source/Measure Unit

Demo Guide

02 | Keysight | Using Source/Measure Unit as a Voltmeter – Demo Guide

Introduction

The Keysight B2900A Series Precision Source/Measure Unit (SMU) is a compact and

cost-effective bench-top SMU with the capability to output and measure both voltage

and current. The B2900A Series SMU enables you to make a wide range of current

versus voltage (IV) measurements more accurately and quickly than ever before. In

addition, the B2900A Series SMU comes with an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI)

and free PC-based application software that make it easy for you to begin making

productive measurements immediately.

This demonstration guide shows how easily you can use the Keysight B2900A Series

SMU as a voltmeter.

Required Instrument and Accessories

All 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 B2902A/12A demo units.

The kit includes items such as a banana cable, a 1.1 kΩ resistor, etc.

Keysight B2902A/12A

Precision Source/Measure Unit

11059A Kelvin Probe Set

1.1 kΩ Resistor

U8201A Combo Test Lead Kit

03 | Keysight | Using Source/Measure Unit as a Voltmeter – Demo Guide

Figure 1. Connection diagram and basic condition

Concept

Figure 1 illustrates the connection diagram used in the demo to use the Keysight B2900A

Series SMU as a voltmeter. Since the low terminal of the channels in the B2900A Series

SMU is grounded internally in the initial state, you need to congure it oating.

In this demo, a 1.1 kΩ resistor combined with a current source is used as a DUT and mea-

sure voltage across the resistor. The channel 2 of the B2902A/12A is used as a current

source. However, you can also use your own current source for it

Setup

1. Connect the yellow banana plug of the 11059A to the Ch1 Low Force Terminal.

2. Connect the red banana plug of the 11059A to the Ch1 High Force Terminal.

3. Connect the black banana cable of the U8201A to the Ch2 Low Force Terminal.

4. Connect the red banana cable of the U8201A to the Ch2 High Force Terminal.

5. Clip the end of the 1.1 kΩ resistor with the black alligator clip of the U8201A.

6. Clip the same end with the black gold-plated tweezers of the 11059A.

7. Clip the other end of the 1.1 kΩ resistor with the red alligator clip of the U8201A

8. Clip the same end of 1.1 kΩ resistor which the red alligator clip is clipped with the red

gold-plated tweezers of the 11059A.

A-

Common

High Force

Low Force

DUT

High

Low

B2901/02/11/12A

1.1 kΩ

Current

Source

DUT

High

Low

A-

Channel 2

as Current Source

Black (11059A)

Red (11059A)

U8201A

Channel 1

DUT

1.1 kΩBlack

Brown

Red (11059A)

Yellow (11059A)

A-

Common

High Force

Low Force

B2901/02/11/12A

1.1 kΩ

Current

Source

DUT

High

Low

A-

04 | Keysight | Using Source/Measure Unit as a Voltmeter – Demo Guide

LAB1: Use Source/Measure Unit as an Voltmeter

Objective

This demo illustrates the voltage

measurement function as a voltmeter

by sourcing almost 0 A current and

measuring the voltage across the resis-

tor biased by a current source using a

Source/Measure Unit.

Procedure

1. Congure the low terminal state to

FLOATING

2. Measure voltage using the SMU

(Channel 1) as a voltmeter

3. Enable the DUT

4. Conrm measured voltage

5. (Optional) Conguring the

measurement speed

6. (Optional) Conguring the

measurement range operation

Demonstration

In the default setting, the low terminal of the channels in the Keysight B2900A Series SMU is grounded

internally. However, the low terminal can be disconnected from the ground and kept oating. Congur-

ing the low terminal state to FLOATING, which enables you to connect the low terminal to any potential

up to ±250 V, and measuring voltage with sourcing 0 A from the channel, which makes it possible to

use the channel as a voltmeter.

1. Congure the low terminal state to FLOATING

1) If you aren’t on the top of the Function menu, press repeatedly to return to the top level.

Press , , and then press to open the Output Connection

dialogue.

3) Press and select to specify the channel which the Low terminal state is

congured for.

On the top level of the Function menu

In the middle level of the Function menu

Any tree structure can’t be seen

Some tree structure can be seen

(1) Press Config

(2) Press Source

(3) Press Connection

05 | Keysight | Using Source/Measure Unit as a Voltmeter – Demo Guide

Press and select , and then press to congure the Low terminal

state to FLOATING.

If the low terminal state of the channel is set to FLOATING, you can see the status

indicator on the GUI as below, although no indicator can be seen on being set to

GROUNDED.

2. Measure voltage using the SMU (Channel 1) as a voltmeter

2-1. Change View mode to Ch1 Single View

1) Press repeatedly until the

Channel 1 Single View is displayed

2-2. Congure the condition to source and measure

1) Press to edit the Source function, and then select to set the Source

function to Current source.

GROUNDED FLOATING

06 | Keysight | Using Source/Measure Unit as a Voltmeter – Demo Guide

2) Rotate and press to edit the Current source range operation. Then Select

to set the Current source range operation to FIXED.

3) Rotate and press to edit the Current source range, and then select

to set it to 10 nA. (If you couldn’t nd , select instead.)

4) Press to edit the Source value, and then enter 0.001 nA (1 pA) to set the

Source value to 1 pA.

5) Press to edit the Limit value, and then enter 2Vto set the Limit value to 2V

for example.

6) Press to congure the Measurement parameter, and then select to

set the Measurement parameter to Voltage.

07 | Keysight | Using Source/Measure Unit as a Voltmeter – Demo Guide

2-3. Perform the measurement

1) Press for the channel 1 to switch on its output terminal.

2) Press to perform a measurement repeatedly. Now you can see the

measurement result on the GUI of the B2902/12A as below.

3. Enable the DUT

You can also use your own current source instead of the channel 2 of the B2902A/12A

3-1. Change View mode to Ch2 Single View.

1) Press repeatedly until the

Channel 2 Single View is displayed.

3-2. Congure the condition of the current source (Channel 2)

1) Press to edit the Source function, and then select to set the Source

function to Current source.

2) Press to edit the Source value, and then enter 1 mA to set the Source value

to 1 mA for example.

3) Press to edit the Limit value, and then enter 2Vto set the Limit value to 2V

for example.

08 | Keysight | Using Source/Measure Unit as a Voltmeter – Demo Guide

4) Press for the channel 2 to switch on its output terminal and enable the DUT.

4. Conrm measured voltage

4-1. Change View mode to Ch1 Single View.

1) Press repeatedly until

Channel 1 Single View is displayed.

You can see about 1.1 V as measured value, since 1 mA is sourced to a 1.1 kΩ

resistor. If you press for the channel 2 to switch it off, you can see only the

offset voltage because the DUT is disabled.

Theoretically speaking, the measured voltage should be 1.1 V since 1mA is sourced

to a 1.1 kΩ resistor. However, it may be varied because the resistor has some error on

its value actually.

Current Source enabled Current Source disabled

09 | Keysight | Using Source/Measure Unit as a Voltmeter – Demo Guide

5. (Optional) Conguring the measurement speed

In the default setting, the instrument selects the appropriate measurement speed and

range automatically to get the ne accuracy. However, you can also specify these pa-

rameters on the GUI of the B2900A Series SMU to meet a variety of the requirement to

the measurement conditions.

For example, let’s try to change the measurement speed to NORMAL to make a mea-

surement more carefully. If you select NORMAL, the aperture time is set to 1 PLC. Here,

PLC stands for power line cycle and the specied number of power line cycles is used

per a measurement.

1) Press to edit the Measurement speed, and then select to set the

Measurement speed to NORMAL. (If you can’t see in Assist keys, press

to change the keys shown in Assist keys.)

6. (Optional) Conguring the measurement range operation

The parameters which congure the measurement range operation can be displayed in

the Range Sub-panel in the Channel 1 Single View. In the default setting, the B2900A

Series SMU performs the voltage measurement using a 200 mV voltage minimum mea-

surement range with AUTO range operation. With AUTO range operation, the B2900A

Series SMU selects the proper range for the measurement with the specied minimum

measurement range so that you don’t need to take care about it. To know how to change

the measurement range setting, try to congure to use the 2 V voltage minimum mea-

surement range with AUTO range operation.

1) Rotate and press to edit the Voltage minimum measurement range, and

then select to set it to 2 V.

If you’d like to x the measurement range, you can select FIXED range operation as below.

2) Rotate and press to edit the Voltage measurement range operation. Then

Select to set the Voltage measurement range operation to FIXED

10 | Keysight | Using Source/Measure Unit as a Voltmeter – Demo Guide

B2900 Precision Instrument Family

The B2900 family contains products that perform both precision sourcing and

precision measurement. www.keysight.com/nd/b2900a

Conclusion

The Keysight B2900A Series Precision Source/Measure Unit (SMU) is a compact and

cost-effective bench-top SMU with the capability to output and measure both voltage

and current. Although it has the capability to make a wide range of current versus volt-

age (IV) measurements as its intrinsic function, the B2900A Series SMU can be used as a

voltmeter easily.

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