Text preview for : IV Characterizations of Solar Cells Using the Keysight B2900A Series of SMUs - Technical Overview 59 part of Agilent IV Characterizations of Solar Cells Using the Keysight B2900A Series of SMUs - Technical Overview 59 Agilent IV Characterizations of Solar Cells Using the Keysight B2900A Series of SMUs - Technical Overview 5990-6660EN c20140210 [4].pdf
Back to : IV Characterizations of S | Home
IV Characterizations of Solar Cells Using
the Agilent B2900A Series of SMUs
Technical Overview
Agilent B2901/02/11/12A Precision Source/Measure Unit
Agilent B2901A Precision SMU, 1ch, 100fA resolution, 210V, 3A DC/10.5A pulse
Agilent B2902A Precision SMU, 2ch, 100fA resolution, 210V, 3A DC/10.5A pulse
Introduction Agilent B2911A Precision SMU, 1ch, 10fA resolution, 210V, 3A DC/10.5A pulse
The Agilent B2901/02/11/12A Agilent B2912A Precision SMU, 2ch, 10fA resolution, 210V, 3A DC/10.5A pulse
Precision Source/Measure Unit is a
compact and cost-effective bench-top
B2901/02/11/12A B2901/02/11/12A
Source/Measure Unit (SMU) with
RLead
the capability to output and measure High Force IMeas High Force IMeas
both voltage and current. The B2900A RLead
Series of SMUs enables you to make A
High Sense High Sense
a wide range of current versus volt- VMeas VSet VMeas VSet
age (IV) measurements more accu-
rately and quickly than ever before. In Low Sense Low Sense B
RLead
addition, the B2900A Series of SMUs
Low Force Low Force
comes with an intuitive graphical user
interface (GUI) and free PC-based
application software that make it easy a) 2-wire connection b) 4-wire connection
for you to begin making productive Figure 1. A 4-wire connection eliminates the measurement error caused by residual lead
measurements immediately. These resistance
features make the B2900A Series of
SMUs the best solution for accurate SMUs are single or dual channel SMU measured is comparable to that of
characterization of photovoltaic cells units that offer a wide range of IV the test leads (please see Figure 1a).
and other devices. measurement capability for a variety However, a 4-wire measurement uses
of two-terminal and three-terminal one pair of leads to force current and
What is the B2900A devices. They cover currents from 10 the other pair of leads to monitor volt-
Series of SMUs? fA to 10.5 A and voltages from 100 age. This eliminates cable resistance
An SMU combines the capabilities of nV to 210 V. In addition to their DC effects so that only the voltage drop
a current source, a voltage source, operation mode, the B2900A Series across the DUT is measured (please
a current meter and a voltage meter of SMUs also has the ability to per- see Figure 1b). In addition, the 4-wire
along with the capability to switch form pulsed measurements in order measurement scheme of the B2900A
easily between these various func- to prevent device self-heating from Series of SMUs keeps the voltage
tions into a single instrument. This distorting the measurement results. between the sense points (A and B
gives it the ability to evaluate the IV Figure 1 illustrates photovoltaic cell in Figure 1b) at exactly the specified
characteristics of devices across all measurement using a member of voltage Vset, thereby ensuring that
four measurement quadrants without B2900A Series of SMUs. The B2900A your device is characterized exactly
the need for any additional equip- Series of SMUs supports 4-wire under the measurement conditions
ment. Besides being able to output measurements (remote sensing) to you specify. The B2900A Series of
and measure voltage or current very eliminate the voltage error caused SMUs allows you to accurately and
accurately, SMUs also possess a by test lead residual resistance. easily measure the IV parameters and
compliance feature that allows a limit Measurements made through a characteristics of photovoltaic cells,
to be placed on the voltage or current 2-wire connection can contain signifi- including short circuit current, open
output to prevent device damage. The cant error when the resistance being circuit voltage, and maximum power
members of the B2900A Series of point.
Quick and easy regions where the device character- The B2900A Series of SMUs has a
istics are stable, and closely-spaced USB interface on the front panel so
IV characterization steps in regions of special interest that a USB flash memory device can
During routine device evaluation it
such as the maximum power point of be used with the B2900A Series of
is often desirable to make a quick
a photovoltaic cell (please see figure SMUs to save and load measurement
measurement from the instrument's
3). After measurement completion setups as well as to save measure-
front panel without having to go
you can use the front panel GUI to ment results. For example, you can
through the time and trouble of writ-
graphically view measurement results create the complicated voltage/
ing a test program. To meet this need,
such as IV curves using Graph View, current steps for a list sweep on a
all members of the B2900A Series of
and display a list of the measurement PC using the software of your choice
SMUs have a resident GUI that makes
data using the Measure Result dialog and then transfer the setup file to
it easy to perform a variety of tests
window.
and save measurement data without
having to write any code. 1) Set the measurement condition 2) Change the view mode
and the compliance
The wide QVGA LCD display of the
B2900A Series of SMUs supports an
easy-to-use GUI that provides easy
instrument control from the front
panel (please see Figure 2). The
GUI of the B2900A Series of SMUs
has the following multiple viewing
modes: Single View, Dual View, Graph 3) Execute
View and Roll View (for viewing time
domain measurements). Single View
a) Single View
mode allows you to easily set up not
only constant voltage and current
measurements but also swept voltage
and current measurements. Dual
View can perform similar functions
for both channels simultaneously
(for B2902A and B2912A). The GUI
also supports the list sweep mode,
which permits the creation of sweeps
consisting of arbitrary voltage or b) Graph View
current steps. One big advantage of
the list sweep mode is that it allows Figure 2. The GUI of the B2900A Series of SMUs makes it easy to take a quick measure-
you to specify widely-spaced steps in ment and display the results
0001 V1
0002 V2
0003 V3
: :
: :
0012 V12
0013 V13
0014 V14
V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V8 V10V12 V14
V7 V9 V11V13
Figure 3. The list sweep mode of the B2900A Series of SMUs makes it easy to characterize photovoltaic cells in the region of interest
2
the B2900A Series of SMUs via USB Easy custom program of commands. The SCPI command set
flash memory. In addition, Graph View of the B2900A Series of SMUs not only
supports a Screen Dump function that support supports its advanced features but
enables you to save screen images If you have specialized programming also general-purpose SMU commands
(such as IV curves) to any attached needs then both Standard Commands (such as those used by the Keithley
USB flash memory device as JPEG for Programmable Instruments (SCPI) 2400) to simplify test program migra-
files, making it easy to include graphi- and IVI-COM drivers are available for tion. In addition to SCPI, the IVI-COM
cal results in reports and presenta- the B2900A Series of SMUs. SCPI is drivers for the B2900A Series of SMUs
tions (please see Figure 4). an industry-standard command set for work in a variety of programming envi-
basic instruments, and it has a uniform ronments and languages so that you
structure that supports a common set can develop programs without having
Ready to use PC software to use low-level commands.
In addition to its powerful and
easy-to-use GUI, the B2900A Series
of SMUs comes with free PC applica-
tion software to facilitate program Graph Dump to JPEG Measurement
development if you prefer PC-based Data
Measurement
instrument control. The Agilent Setups
B2900A Graphical Web Interface
and the Agilent B2900A Quick I/V
Measurement Software are both
available for the B2900A Series of Graph Dump to JPEG
SMUs.
The Agilent B2900A Graphical Web
Interface provides functionality to
allow access to the B2900A Series
of SMUs over a LAN connection. The
B2900A Series of SMUs is fully com- Figure 4. Measurement setups and results can be transferred and saved using any USB
pliant with the LXI class C specifica- flash memory device.
tion and it contains a web server that
provides a webpage with an interface
to support the basic measurement
functions of the B2900A Series of
SMUs. You can quickly and easily
make measurements using a standard
web browser by just connecting the
B2900A Series of SMUs to a PC using
a LAN cable.
The Agilent B2900A Quick I/V
Measurement Software has more
powerful measurement capabilities
to control the B2900A Series of
SMUs over GPIB, USB or LAN
connections (please see Figure 5).
You can download this PC-based
software from Agilent's web site
for free. The Agilent B2900A Quick
I/V Measurement Software also
supports a variety of functions such
as a sweep measurement, a sampling
measurement, graphical display
functions and the ability to save test
results into CSV files.
Figure 5. It is easy to make a quick measurement on a PC using the Agilent B2900A Quick
I/V Measurement Software
3
www.agilent.com
www.agilent.com/find/b2900A
For more information on Agilent
Summary
myAgilent
Technologies' products, applications or
www.agilent.com/find/myagilent services, please contact your local Agilent
The Agilent B2901/02/11/12A
A personalized view into the information office. The complete list is available at:
Precision Source/Measure Unit is the most relevant to you. www.agilent.com/find/contactus
best solution for IV characterization
of photovoltaic cells and a variety of
other devices. Its wide current and Americas
voltage measurement ranges (from 10 Canada (877) 894 4414
www.lxistandard.org
fA/100 nV to 10.5 A/210 V) provide Brazil (11) 4197 3600
LAN eXtensions for Instruments puts the
superior measurement performance power of Ethernet and the Web inside Mexico 01800 5064 800
and allow you to characterize devices your test systems. Agilent is a founding United States (800) 829 4444
more accurately and easily than ever member of the LXI consortium. Asia Pacific
before.
Australia 1 800 629 485
Three-Year Warranty China 800 810 0189
The easy-to-use GUI of the B2900A Hong Kong 800 938 693
Series of SMUs has a variety of capa- India 1 800 112 929
www.agilent.com/find/ThreeYearWarranty
bilities and features that make it easy Beyond product specification, changing Japan 0120 (421) 345
to take measurements quickly and the ownership experience. Agilent is the Korea 080 769 0800
to save both the measurement setup only test and measurement company Malaysia 1 800 888 848
conditions and data to USB-based that offers three-year warranty on all Singapore 1 800 375 8100
flash memory devices. instruments, worldwide.
Taiwan 0800 047 866
Other AP Countries (65) 375 8100
In addition to being able to control Europe & Middle East
the B2900A Series of SMUs remotely
Belgium 32 (0) 2 404 93 40
over GPIB, USB and LAN interfaces, Agilent Assurance Plans Denmark 45 45 80 12 15
Agilent supplies PC-based Agilent www.agilent.com/find/ThreeYearWarranty Finland 358 (0) 10 855 2100
B2900A Graphical Web Interface Beyond product specification, changing France 0825 010 700*
and Agilent B2900A Quick I/V the ownership experience. Agilent is the *0.125 /minute
Measurement Software for free to only test and measurement company Germany 49 (0) 7031 464 6333
simplify controlling the B2900A Series that offers three-year warranty on all Ireland 1890 924 204
instruments, worldwide.
of SMUs from your PC. Israel 972-3-9288-504/544
Italy 39 02 92 60 8484
For more detailed information on the Netherlands 31 (0) 20 547 2111
DEKRA Certified
Agilent Electronic Measurement Group
Spain 34 (91) 631 3300
various models of the B2900A Series ISO 9001:2008 Sweden 0200-88 22 55
of SMUs, please refer to the data
Quality Management System
Sys
www.agilent.com/quality United Kingdom 44 (0) 118 927 6201
sheet of the B2900A Series of SMUs Agilent Electronic Measurement Group
(5990-7009EN) DEKRA Certified ISO 9001:2008
Quality Management System For other unlisted countries:
The B2900A Series of SMUs enables www.agilent.com/find/contactus
you to quickly debug and accurately Agilent Channel Partners (BP-09-27-13)
characterize a wide variety of devices www.agilent.com/find/channelpartners Product specifications and descriptions in
using only a single bench-top SMU. Get the best of both worlds: Agilent's this document subject to change without
measurement expertise and product notice.
breadth, combined with channel partner
convenience.