LAB I. INTRODUCTION TO LAB EQUIPMENT - personal.utdallas.edujblee/EE3110/Lab1_Introduction.pdf · Lab I: Introduction to Lab Equipment – Page 2 There are two basic types of strips

Lab I: Introduction to Lab Equipment – Page 1

LAB I. INTRODUCTION TO LAB EQUIPMENT

1. OBJECTIVE

In this lab you will learn how to properly operate the basic bench equipment used for characterizing active devices:

1. Oscilloscope (Keysight DSOX 1102A), 2. Source Measure Unit (SMU) (Keithley 2430), 3. Function generator Agilent 33220A, and a 4. Bread board.

You will use these tools to characterize three simple resistive circuits, perform theoretical circuit analyses on them, analyze the results, and present your findings in a concise, organized lab report.

2. OVERVIEW

The Background Information section in this lab manual describes the basic operations of each lab equipment. You are expected to learn these basic operations during lab, ideally before moving on to the Lab Procedure section. The lab procedure will test your comprehension of the background materials by asking you to build simple resistive circuits and use the bench equipment to characterize them.

Information essential to your understanding of this lab: 1. Background Material

Materials necessary for this experiment:

1. Standard bench equipment. 2. Two resistors: 3.3 kΩ and 5.1 kΩ. 3. Two 10:1 Oscilloscope Probes. 4. One RG58C/U Coaxial Cable. 5. Two Red & Black Test Lead Pair (Banana-Plug to Alligator-Clip.)

3. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

3.1 BREADBOARD BASICS

Breadboards (aka. Solderless board, Prototype board) are simply a set of pre-wired interconnected strips that are accessible through periodically spaced hole in the board. Looking at Figure 1, you can identify which holes form an interconnected strip by the black lines connecting them. By plugging the lead of a component into a hole you will be connected to all the other components in that strip without permanently connecting them. This allows you to build, alter, and test your prototype circuits quickly.


There are two basic types of strips. The first type is called connection strip, they typically take up most of the board and are connected horizontally. Each hole can uniquely identified using the labels “a-j’ column labels and ‘1-63’ row labels. NOTE: ‘a-e’ connection strips are not connected to the ‘f-i’ connection strips. The second type is called bus strip. ALL the holes in a bus strip are connected vertically. Bus strips are typically labeled ‘A’ or ‘B’ and are marked by a red or blue line along their length.

3.2 KEITHLEY SOURCE MEASURE UNIT 2400

The Keithley SMU can be used as a voltage source, a current source, a voltmeter, or an ammeter. Examine Figures 2. & 3. below before moving on to studying the main functions of the Keithley SMU.

Figure 1. A schematic diagram of the breadboard showing buses and strips.

Figure 2. Keithley SMU button descriptions.


Figure 3. Front panel of Keithley 2430 SMU.

3.2.1 SET VOLTAGE/CURRENT SOURCE CONFIGURATION

In order to use the Keithley SMU as a voltage source or a current source, you need to follow the steps given below.

1. Press the V or I button in the Source group.

2. Press the EDIT button (top left): The display value Vsrc or Isrc should

start blinking. If it is not blinking press the EDIT button again.

3. To set your source value, you need to use the following buttons: • Select Range: These buttons are used to change the range

of the source value by an order of magnitude (i.e. by a factor of 10).

• Select Digit: The Left and Right arrows in the EDIT group are used to select the digit you wish to alter.

• Select Number: The Up and Down arrows in the source group are used to change the digit value.


Or you can enter the numbers directly using these buttons:

4. Once you set the value, press Enter.

3.2.2 COMPLIANCE (IMPORTANT!!!)

Once you have set your source value, you need to set your compliance value. How do I set the compliance value? Press the “Edit” button twice. You will see a set of digits blink. Use the same buttons you used to set your source value above to set your compliance value. How do I determine compliance value? Use data sheets to determine the voltage and current limits of your component. Next, use your magical powers of electrical engineering (also known as the mystical art of ‘circuit analysis’) to figure what voltage and current your component will experience. For example the average resistor is rated at a ¼ watt. If you put 1V across that resistor, you need to make sure – as a good and employable electrical engineer – that you don’t put more that 0.25A through it. Therefore, if you set up the SMU as a voltage source delivering 1V to your resistor, your compliance value will be 250mA. What is compliance? Compliance is a safety feature incorporated in the Keithley SMU to protect your circuit components from unexpected high power of operation – i.e. it prevents you from unexpectedly ‘frying’ your circuit. It is a limiting factor input by the user. If you set up an SMU as a voltage source, you must also set the highest current value the SMU is allowed to provide to your circuit; this is called “current clamping”. If you set up an SMU as a current source, you must set the highest voltage value the SMU is allowed to provide to your circuit; this is called “voltage clamping”.


On the screen, the compliance value is typically displayed to the right of the source value, and in this format: “Cmpl: 073.000 mA” (assuming you set up a voltage source.) Once you have set up source and compliance for an SMU, you can push the ON/OFF button at the bottom right corner of the front panel to power your circuit. Check the compliance value in the display. If something blinks, there is a problem. If you turn on your SMU and your circuit attempts to draw more current than is allowed by your compliance value, the “Cmpl:” text will blink (ex. “Cmpl: 073.000 mA”; here bold text indicates blinking text). This is called “breaking real compliance”. To overcome this, you need to increase the compliance value – or recheck your circuit setup. If the units portion of your compliance value blinks (“Cmpl: 073.000 mA”), you “broke ‘range’ compliance”. It means the compliance value you entered is well above the range of current values being drawn by your circuit. The actual current drawn is below the range of measurement of the SMU. You need to press the “AUTO” button to allow the Keithley to set the compliance value to some lower value.

3.2.3 VOLTMETER / AMMETER CONFIGURATION

To configure the Keithley SMU as an Ammeter or a Voltmeter, do the following: Voltmeter Setup:

1. Set the SMU up as a current source with zero output current. 2. Then from the control panel area, press the V button in the MEAS group

under the display. Ammeter instructions

1. Set the SMU up as a voltage source with zero output voltage. 2. Then from the control panel area, press the I button in the MEAS group

under the display.

3.3 KEYSIGHT 1000 X-SERIES OSCILLOSCOPE

This section will instruct you on how to operate the Keysight 1000 x-Series Oscilloscope.


3.3.1 OSCILLOSCOPE FRONT PANEL CONTROL

• Intensity Control (3 in Fig. 4) Press the key to illuminate it. When illuminated, turn the Entry knob to adjust waveform intensity on the display.

• Autoscale Key (6 in Fig. 4) When you press the [AutoScale] key, the oscilloscope will quickly determine which channels have activity, and it will turn these channels on and scale them to display the input signals.

• Channel On/Off Keys (1 & 2 in colored background in 16 in Fig. 4) Channel on/off keys — Use these keys to switch a channel on or off, or to access a channel's menu in the softkeys. There is one channel on/off key for each channel.

• Vertical Control (16 in Fig. 4) There are knobs marked sinusoidal waveforms for each channel. Use these knobs to change the vertical sensitivity (gain) of each analog channel. Use knobs at the bottom to change a channel's vertical position on the display. There is one Vertical Position control for each channel.

• Horizontal and Acquisition Control (7 in Fig. 4) There are horizontal scale knob that is marked sinusoidal waveforms. Use this knob to adjust the

Figure 4. Front Panel of Keysight InfiniiVision 1000 X-Series Oscilloscope


time/div setting. Push the horizontal scale knob to toggle between fine and coarse adjustment. There are also horizontal position knob with two triangular marks. Turn the knob marked to pan through the waveform data horizontally. You can see the captured waveform before the trigger (turn the knob clockwise) or after the trigger (turn the knob counterclockwise). If you pan through the waveform when the oscilloscope is stopped (not in Run mode) then you are looking at the waveform data from the last acquisition taken. Press the Acquire key to open the Acquire menu where you can select the Normal, XY, and Roll time modes, enable or disable Zoom, and select the trigger time reference point.

• Measure Controls (9 in Fig. 4) Press the [Meas] key to access a set of predefined measurements. Press the [Cursors] key to open a menu that lets you select the cursors mode and source. Push Cursors knob to select cursors from a popup menu. Then, after the popup menu closes (either by timeout or by pushing the knob again), rotate the knob to adjust the selected cursor position. Press the [Analyze] key to access analysis features like trigger level setting, measurement threshold setting

• Entry Knob (4 in Fig. 4) The Entry knob is used to select items from menus and to change values. The function of the Entry knob changes based upon the current menu and softkey selections. Often, rotating the Entry knob is enough to make a selection. Sometimes, you can push the Entry knob to enable or disable a selection. Also, pushing the Entry knob can also make popup menus disappear.

• Softkeys (2 in Fig. 4) The functions of these keys change based upon the menus shown on the display next to the keys.

Probe Attenuation Factor: Some Oscilloscope probe attenuates the incoming signal by a certain factor. In this lab, we use 10:1 probe which attenuates the incoming signal by a factor of 10. By matching the attenuation factor of the oscilloscope to the attenuation of the probe, your measurements will reflect the actual voltage levels at the probe tip. If you need to change the probe attenuation factor, follow the procedure shown below.


3.3.2 MEASURING VOLTAGES AND TIME-RELATED PARAMETERS

When measuring voltages with the oscilloscope, place the probes in parallel across the component where the voltage signal is being measured. Once you have the signal displayed on the screen, you can use buttons and keys to do the measurements.

• To measure RMS, DC, or peak to peak voltages with the oscilloscope, use

the following method: Press the Meas button (9 in Fig. 4). The Select menu appears on the right side of the screen. Press the softkey next to that, or use the “Entry Knob” (4 in Fig. 4) to select the desired value like RMS, Amplitude, Average, Peak to peak, etc. The selected value would be displayed on the bottom of the display.

• To measure Frequency, period and other time-related parameters with

the oscilloscope, use the following method: Press the Meas button (9 in Fig. 4). The Select menu appears on the right side of the screen. Press the softkey next to that, or use the “Entry Knob” (4 in Fig. 4) to select the desired value Frequency, delay, period, Duty cycle etc. Press the “Entry knob” to select specific type of measurement. The selected value would be displayed on the bottom of the display.

• For other measurements related to the voltage and time-related

parameters, we use “Cursors” (9 in Fig. 4). To measure using the cursors do the following:


“Cursors” are horizontal and vertical markers that indicate X-axis values (usually time) and Y-axis values (usually voltage) on a selected waveform source. The position of the cursors can be moved turning the knob next to the “Cursors” button. When you press the “Cursors” key, cursor lines are displayed on the screen. To turn cursors off, press this key again.

Cursors are not always limited to the visible display. If you set a cursor, then pan and zoom the waveform until the cursor is off screen, its value will not be changed, and if you pan the waveform back again it will have the cursor in the original place. The following steps guide you through the front-panel “Cursors” key. You can use the cursors to make custom voltage or time measurements on the signal.

1. Connect a signal to the oscilloscope and obtain a stable display. 2. Press the Cursors key. View the cursor functions in the softkey

menu: • Cursors X1 and X2 X cursors are vertical

dashed lines that adjust horizontally and can be used to measure time(s), frequency (1/s), phase (°), and ratio (%).

• Cursors Y1 and Y2 Y cursors are horizontal dashed lines that adjust vertically and can be used to measure Volts or Amps.

• X1 X2 and Y1 Y2 Move the cursors together when turning the Entry knob.

3.3.3 MEASURING CURRENTS

The Oscilloscope can only measure current indirectly, by reading the voltage across a resistor while it is in a circuit and then applying Ohm’s Law to find the current. If you have two signals and want to find the phase between similar points select the source of measurement for cursor 1 as channel 1 and the source for cursor 2 as channel 2. The difference readout is the delay between the two signals. If you divide that delay by the period then you have the phase value as a fraction of 360°, or 2π radians. If you would like to represent that in degrees all you have to do is convert it from radians to degrees.

3.3.4 HOW TO SAVE WAVEFORM TO USB To save waveform in the oscilloscope to USB, follow the steps in the Figure below. There are various formats that you can save, but most likely you can


either save the waveform data as “.BMP” (image file) or “CSV” file which can be directly read by Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet for post measurement data processing.

Figure 5. Saving waveform data to USB

3.4. FUNCTION GENERATOR AGILENT 33220A The function generator is used to generate signals for your circuits. You will need to know how to set the function generator to get sine, square, triangle or ramp signals. In addition, you will have to set up the frequency, the amplitude, offset voltage and the duty cycle. The default settings for this instrument are a sinewave of 1 kHz, with an amplitude of 100 mV and a DC offset of 0.0 V.


The function generator is very easy to use since each function has a specific button. If you want to select a waveform, just look for the button with the desired waveform such as a sine wave, a square wave, triangle wave, or ramp wave. Then, just press its button. All that you have to do now is set the parameters for the waveform. To set the frequency, amplitude, offset or the duty cycle you need to do the following:

1. Press the appropriate gray buttons beneath the display screen (Freq/Period, Ampl/Hi Level, Offset/Lo Level, or Duty Cycle).

2. You may enter the value one of two ways. a.) Turn the knob and the highlighted digit will change. You may

select a different digit by using the < or the > buttons. b.) You can also key in the digit by using number buttons.

3. Press “Output” button on the bottom right of the front panel (right next to Sync cable) and make sure the light is “on”.

IMPEDANCE MATCHING (IMPORTANT!) In order to make sure you read the exact value of the amplitude output by the function generator, You should make sure the output impedance of the function generator is matched to the impedance of the connected circuits. This function generator has 50 Ω output impedance. It has been configured by the manufacturer to deliver the voltage signal when a load of 50 Ω is attached to it. In the case of large impedance circuits the function generator may deliver up to twice the voltage that you have set it up to deliver. In our case, we use a series connected 5.1 kΩ resistor and 3.3 k Ω resistor, which is much higher than 50 Ω. Hence, when you set 1 Vpp on the function generator, you will observe twice the amplitude (2 Vpp) on the oscilloscope. In order to overcome this, you need to set the function generator to have “High

Figure 6. Front panel of the Agilent 33220A function generator.


Z” output impedance. To do this, press the “Utility” button and press the “output setup” and you can change the “output impedance” to the “High Z” output mode.

4. PREPARATION

There is no preparation for this lab except for reading and learning the background material.

5. PROCEDURE

Before proceeding with the lab, please familiarize yourself with setting up the bench equipment. Refer to Section 3 for details.

5.1 FUNCTION GENERATOR AND OSCILLOSCOPE Use the function generator and the oscilloscope to perform the following tasks.

1. Build circuit ‘A’ shown below in Figure 7. 2. Set the function generator to generate a sinusoidal signal with a

frequency of 100 Hz and peak-to-peak voltage of 5V. 3. Set up one probe across the whole circuit (Channel 1), and another

across R2 (Channel 2). 4. Subtract Channel 2 signals from Channel 1 signals using the

Oscilloscope. 5. Measure the voltages and time related parameters asked for on the

Instructor Verification Sheet. Obtain TA Signature.

5.2 KEITHLEY SMU

Figure 7. Circuit ‘A’


Use the two Keithley SMUs to perform the following tasks:

5.2.1 Using the circuit ‘B’ of Figure 8 set up a Keithley SMU as a voltage source of 10 V DC. Figure out the compliance by evaluating the circuit. Use the second Keithley SMU to measure the voltages in R1 and R2. Measure the current in the circuit directly from the Keithley SMU used as the voltage source. Record values on IV sheet.

5.2.2 Using the circuit ‘C’ of Figure 9, set up a Keithley SMU as a current

source of 5 mA DC. Set up the other Keithley to measure the current in R1 and in R2. Record Values on IV Sheet.

5.2.3 Measure the impedance of your two resistors using the Ohmmeter

setting of a Keithley SMU. Record the values in the Instructor Verification Sheet. Get TA Signature.

Notice that Circuits ‘B’ and ‘C’ are source transforms of each other. You should be able to compare and contrast the voltage and current measurements.

6. LAB REPORT

Type a lab report with a cover sheet containing your name, class (including section number), date of the lab, and the report due date. Use the following outline to draft sections of your lab report:

Abstract: Briefly describe the purpose of the lab, the analysis you performed, and your findings. Introduction: Briefly mention the bench equipment you used

Figure 8. Circuit 'B' Figure 9. Circuit 'C'


in the lab and their basic functions in your own words. Procedure: You do not need to provide a procedure section for this lab. Data Presentation: Report all the measured data collected. Make sure it is well presented, has units and labels - and is easily discernable which values are from a particular section of the procedure. Please use Excel, Matlab or another software to help generate well-formed tables. Analysis: Perform theoretical circuit analysis on each circuit you characterized – i.e. use the measured values of your resistors (5.2.3) to find the theoretical voltage and current values for circuit ‘A’, ‘B’, and ‘C’. Do show work – typed equations, units etc. Include the circuit diagrams in your descriptions, if needed. Compare your calculated values to the measured values using percent error calculations. Be sure to organize your analyses appropriately according to procedure section number. Conclusions: What conclusions can you draw about using bench equipment from your direct experience of setting it up and using it to characterize circuits? What do the results of your circuit analyses tell you about your bench equipment? Attach: Signed instructor verification form. Attach: Read the “Undergraduate Laboratories Rules and

Regulations (Intro_F19.pdf)” carefully and attach last page with your signature.

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LAB I. INTRODUCTION TO LAB EQUIPMENT - personal.utdallas.edujblee/EE3110/Lab1_Introduction.pdf · Lab I: Introduction to Lab Equipment – Page 2 There are two basic types of strips