Keysight Augments its Line of Source and Measurement Units with a Range of New Devices

An SMU is a device that can force current or voltage, and, at the same time, measure current and or voltage. Keysight, long a key player in this area, is introducing a new group of highly flexible  SMUs separately optimized for a wide range of tasks

PXI and, later, PXIe, is an industry standard for high precision modular testing devices.

 

The M9601A PXIe

The M9601A PXIe is suitable for a variety of current vs. voltage applications such as the testing and characterization of active, passive and semiconductor devices. Maximum voltage output is 210 V with a resolution of 500 nanovolts. Maximum current output is 315 mA, and the resolution here is 10 femtoamperes (fA).

The unit can take as many as 1.25 measurements per second. It can operate at ranges from DC down to pulses of 10 µs.

 

The M9601A PXIe. Image courtesy of Keysight

 

The M9602A PXIe and the M9603A PXIe

The M9602A PXIe and the M9603A PXIe are aimed at development and testing of IC’s, vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSEL) and other optical devices. They can generate pulses widths down to 10 μs, and they can sample at 15 M measurements per second. Both have output ranges of 60 volts and 3.5 amp DC and can supply pulses of 10.5 amps

The M9602A PXIe and has a minimum resolution of 1 pA, while the corresponding figure for the M9603 PXIe is 100 fA

 

The M9614A PXIe and the M9615a PXIe

The Keysight M9614A and M9615A are five-channel precision PXIe SMUs that are aimed at testing situations that call for high channel density, such as semiconductor reliability testing and for IC testing. They support measurements of up to 30 volts and 500 mA and feature resolutions as low as 6 µV and 10 pA. 

They offer a seamless current measurement ranging function that eliminates the time it takes to change the range, thereby expanding the dynamic range to cover four distinct measurement ranges. This valuable feature serves to reduce the time duration of testing.

 

Keysight’s Long Commitment to Source Measure Units

The company supports a wide range of SMUs, ranging from more basic devices up to those on the high end. 

 

B2900 Series. Image courtesy of Keysight

 

As per Christopher Cain, vice president of Keysight Technologies Electronic Industrial Products, "Keysight has provided high precision source-measurement-units (SMUs) for decades, and our enhanced bench B2900B series SMU instruments continue to set the bar for accuracy, precision and measurement throughput." he goes on to say that "We have leveraged our deep SMU expertise and the latest electronic technologies to create a family of high precision PXIe modular SMUs.  These high-density measurement SMU modules can be scaled in a PXIe system to reduce overall test time by up to 25 percent, which is crucial in vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser devices and quantum computing measurements." 

Keysight provides a complete listing of the B2900B series that Mr. Cain speaks of.