Can We Keep Impedance between HI and LOW at a Fixed Value?

Updated Nov 1, 2024

Reported In

Hardware

  • PXIe-4143

Driver

  • NI-DCPower

Issue Details

I measure DUT with 4-wire by remote sense using InstrumentStudio and repeatedly turning the voltage on and off. When doing so, I noticed that the impedance between HI and LOW changes. Using a DMM, I observed that the impedance drastically drops when the output is turned on. Is it possible to keep the impedance between HI and LOW at a fixed value before and after turning the voltage on and off?

The setting for Source: Output Resistance only accepts -5 to 5 Ohms for PXIe-4143. Is there any workaround other than placing an external resistor between HI and LOW? This behavior affects their measurement results in InstrumentStudio.

Solution

It is impossible to maintain impedance during measurement because the SMU should have low impedance when applying voltage to the DUT. The high impedance observed at some points is likely due to the SMU transitioning from its power-up state, where the output disconnect switch is open, to its initiated state, where the switch is closed. In DC voltage mode, the SMU behaves as a low impedance device by definition.

The PXIe-4143 module does not support the "output connected" property, so there is no way to programatically control this switch state. The SMU can simulate a very high impedance between the HI and LO terminals if configured for "DC Current" mode with a current level of 0A, ideally in the smallest current range, depending on the desired impedance level. However, this will not simulate a constant impedance, as the SMU will attempt to simulate as close to infinite impedance as possible. Therefore, there is no workaround other than using an external resistor.

 

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