What Is Resistance Measurement Uncertainty for SMU?

Updated Sep 26, 2023

Reported In

Hardware

  • PXIe-4139
  • PXIe-4135
  • PXIe-4190
  • PXIe-4138

Other

I'm making resistance measurements via SMU.
How to calculate the accuracy or what is the uncertainty of the resistance measurement?

Issue Details

How to get resistance accuracy?
I have tables to calculate the voltage and current reading accuracies, but how to end up with resistance accuracy?

Solution

Based on propagation of uncertainty, 

A practical application is an experiment in which one measures current, I, and voltage, V, on a resistor in order to determine the resistance, R, using Ohm's law, R = V / I. Given the measured variables with uncertainties, I ± σI and V ± σV, and neglecting their possible correlation, the uncertainty in the computed quantity, σR, is:

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Another method would be to simply implement the tables in the spec sheets as equations in your code.  When you get your V and I readings, calculate their inaccuracies, and divide as follows to find the worst case error:

Rmax = Vmax/Imin
Rmin = Vmin/Imax
Where
Vmax = Vreading + Vinaccuracy
Vmin = Vreading - Vinaccuracy