I-V Characteristics of a FET

[J_LA]

I need to measure the current between source and drain(Isd) by varying the voltage between source and drain(Vsd) keeping the gate voltage(Vg) constant. The limits of Vsd and its step size will be one of the input. The other input will be the startup Vg and its increasing step and its end point. Here what I mean:

(i).Suppose starting Vg=0V

(ii). Measure Isd by varying Vsd from -5V to 5V in a step of 0.1V.

(iii). Once this is completed Vg will automatically go to 1V  and step(ii) will repeat.

(iv) step (i),(ii),(iii) will repeat till Vg reaches its end point say 10V.

I also need to export these data on a spreadsheet.

Any help will be appreciated.

[smercurio_fc]

Is this a school project? I ask because I can't really think of a reason why anybody would need to do this on their own, given that manufacturers publish these specs.

Regardless of what it's for, what kind of help or suggestions are you asking for? Keep in mind that if this is a school project we're not going to solve your problem for you. That's what school is for. But, we can give you hints. Are you asking about what hardware you would need? Are you asking about coding something up? 

[billko]

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smercurio_fc wrote:

Is this a school project? I ask because I can't really think of a reason why anybody would need to do this on their own, given that manufacturers publish these specs.

Regardless of what it's for, what kind of help or suggestions are you asking for? Keep in mind that if this is a school project we're not going to solve your problem for you. That's what school is for. But, we can give you hints. Are you asking about what hardware you would need? Are you asking about coding something up? 

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I've done this before, albeit in VB.  It was a quick and dirty test to screen FETs to see if they were working or not.  One pitfall to watch for is when automating this process, make sure you give the power supplies time to "settle" because the computer will probably execute the commands so swiftly that you may exceed the ability of the power supply to change voltages and when you take a reading, it may not be at the required voltage yet.

Bill

Message Edited by billko on 08-19-2009 05:05 PM

[smercurio_fc]

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billko wrote:

I've done this before, albeit in VB.  It was a quick and dirty test to screen FETs to see if they were working or not.

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Wouldn't a multimeter tell you the same thing? Some have built-in testers for these quick and dirty tests. Granted that they'll basically just tell you if it's blown or not, so I suppose it depends on what kind of information you're looking for. 

[billko]

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smercurio_fc wrote:

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billko wrote:

I've done this before, albeit in VB.  It was a quick and dirty test to screen FETs to see if they were working or not.

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Wouldn't a multimeter tell you the same thing? Some have built-in testers for these quick and dirty tests. Granted that they'll basically just tell you if it's blown or not, so I suppose it depends on what kind of information you're looking for. 

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Yeah it would, smercurio... unless you had a grid of 10 x 10 to test.  😉

Edit:

I should mention that the program would first screen and report "dead" ones, but it would also send the data to a csv file so the engineers could determine whether or not the FETs were "in character."

Message Edited by billko on 08-19-2009 05:13 PM