Agilent B2900A series source/measure units

Agilent has announced the B2900A series, its first range of compact benchtop source/measure units for testing semiconductors, components and materials.

The devices provide wide voltage/current ranges and good performance and provide a graphical interface with the claimed first colour displays.

They excel as fast, simple current-versus-voltage (I-V curve) characterisation of semiconductors, active/passive components and materials in research, development, manufacturing and education applications.

The series provides voltage/current ranges and precision in a single instrument. For example, the voltage range is ±210 V while current ranges are ±3 A DC and ±10.5 A pulsed. With the instruments in this series, sourcing is precise and measurements are accurate with minimum resolution of 100 nV and 10 fA.

The user interface is presented on a 4.3″ colour LCD screen that supports graphical and numerical displays in single, dual, graph and roll views.

In automated testing, the series complements good accuracy and repeatability with best-in-class measurement speed. The units also archive 12,500 readings per second (maximum sweep-operation reading rate and source/measure to GPIB). Under programmatic control the new SMUs support the SCPI command set, enabling basic compatibility with - and migration from - conventional SMUs.

The series consists of four models: the one-channel B2901A and B2911A and the two-channel B2902A and B2912A. They are further distinguished by capabilities such as the number of displayed digits, measurement resolution, minimum timing interval and supported view modes.