Automated Measurement of Power MOSFET Device Characteristics Using USB Interfaced Power Supplies

Mustafa G. Guvench; mao ye

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Conference: 2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
Publication Date: June 26, 2016
Start Date: June 26, 2016
End Date: June 29, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-692-68565-5
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: Instrumentation Technical Session
Tagged Division: Instrumentation
Page Count: 14
DOI: 10.18260/p.26354
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/26354
Download Count: 1771

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Paper Authors

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Mustafa G. Guvench University of Southern Maine

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Dr. Guvench received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics from Case Western Reserve University. He is currently a full professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Southern Maine. Prior to joining U.S.M. he served on the faculties of the University of Pittsburgh and M.E.T.U., Ankara, Turkey. His research interests and publications span the field of microelectronics including I.C. design, MEMS and semiconductor technology and its application in sensor development, finite element and analytical modeling of semiconductor devices and sensors, and electronic instrumentation and measurement.

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mao ye

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Mao Ye is an electrical engineering student at the University of Southern Maine, and an equipment engineering intern at Texas Instrument, South Portland, Maine. He also worked at Iberdrola Energy Project as a project assessment engineering intern. Prior to attending the University of Southern Maine, he served in the United States Marine Corps as communications chief. His area of interests are microelectronics, Instrumentation, software development, and automation design.

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Abstract

Abstract: This paper describes use of USB interfaced multi-source DC power supplies to measure the I-V characteristics of high current, high power devices, specifically Power MOSFETs and Power Diodes. The LabView GUI program we developed enables the user to run the measurement, automatically, over the user specified current and voltage range while protecting the device from excessive currents and overheating via current and power limits also specified by the user. The LabView runtime window indicates the progress of the measurement time with a highlighted horizontal bar graph display and plots the drain I-V characteristics of the device in real time as the data is gathered. At the conclusion of the measurement an Excel compatible file is created for further evaluation, interpretation, graphing of the data, and for SPICE parameter extraction [1]. Power MOSFET devices, to measure their I-V characteristics under a PC’s control, require a power supply with a minimum of two channels which can be controlled by a PC via a serial, or a GPIB, or a USB interface. Our experiments were conducted with a Keithley 2230-30-1 Triple Power Supply unit which has a USB interface. Maximum measurement ranges of voltage and current are limited only by the power supply at hand, not by the software. Our power supply had three channels, Channels 1 and 2 rated at 30V, 1.5Amp maximum, and a Channel 3 rated at 6V, 5.0 Amp maximum. The power diode version of the program also gives the option of semi-log plotting of the diode I-V data in real time for the user to estimate a PN-junction diode's forward ideality factor and saturation current directly on the screen. This is the first demonstration of using USB interfaced affordable power supplies instead of expensive source-measure units (SMU's) to measure the I-V characteristics of high-power semiconductor devices. Because of its simple and inexpensive hardware requirements, the system is perfectly suitable for use in the undergraduate electronics laboratories for instruction as well as being a tool in industrial and research laboratories for the product testing and characterization of high power semiconductor devices. The system can also adapted to measure the I-V characteristics of solar cells [2] and solar panels, and high-power Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJTs), as well.

[1] Guvench, M.G., "SPICE Parameter Extraction from Automated Measurements of JFET and MOSFET Characteristics ...," Proc. ASEE, s.1659, vol.1, pp.879-884, 1994 [2] Guvench, M.G., Denis, A.M., and Gurcan, C. "Automated Measurement of I-V Characteristics of Large Area Solar Cells …," Proc. ASEE, s.2531, 2003

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Guvench, M. G., & ye, M. (2016, June), Automated Measurement of Power MOSFET Device Characteristics Using USB Interfaced Power Supplies Paper presented at 2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, New Orleans, Louisiana. 10.18260/p.26354

TY - CPAPER
AB - Abstract: This paper describes use of USB interfaced multi-source DC power supplies to measure the I-V characteristics of high current, high power devices, specifically Power MOSFETs and Power Diodes. The LabView GUI program we developed enables the user to run the measurement, automatically, over the user specified current and voltage range while protecting the device from excessive currents and overheating via current and power limits also specified by the user. The LabView runtime window indicates the progress of the measurement time with a highlighted horizontal bar graph display and plots the drain I-V characteristics of the device in real time as the data is gathered. At the conclusion of the measurement an Excel compatible file is created for further evaluation, interpretation, graphing of the data, and for SPICE parameter extraction [1]. Power MOSFET devices, to measure their I-V characteristics under a PC’s control, require a power supply with a minimum of two channels which can be controlled by a PC via a serial, or a GPIB, or a USB interface. Our experiments were conducted with a Keithley 2230-30-1 Triple Power Supply unit which has a USB interface. Maximum measurement ranges of voltage and current are limited only by the power supply at hand, not by the software. Our power supply had three channels, Channels 1 and 2 rated at 30V, 1.5Amp maximum, and a Channel 3 rated at 6V, 5.0 Amp maximum.
The power diode version of the program also gives the option of semi-log plotting of the diode I-V data in real time for the user to estimate a PN-junction diode&#39;s forward ideality factor and saturation current directly on the screen.
This is the first demonstration of using USB interfaced affordable power supplies instead of expensive source-measure units (SMU&#39;s) to measure the I-V characteristics of high-power semiconductor devices. Because of its simple and inexpensive hardware requirements, the system is perfectly suitable for use in the undergraduate electronics laboratories for instruction as well as being a tool in industrial and research laboratories for the product testing and characterization of high power semiconductor devices. The system can also adapted to measure the I-V characteristics of solar cells [2] and solar panels, and high-power Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJTs), as well.

[1] Guvench, M.G., &quot;SPICE Parameter Extraction from Automated Measurements of JFET and MOSFET Characteristics ...,&quot; Proc. ASEE, s.1659, vol.1, pp.879-884, 1994
[2] Guvench, M.G., Denis, A.M., and Gurcan, C. &quot;Automated Measurement of I-V Characteristics of Large Area Solar Cells …,&quot; Proc. ASEE, s.2531, 2003

AU - Mustafa G. Guvench
AU - mao ye
CY - New Orleans, Louisiana
DA - 2016/06/26
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Automated Measurement of Power MOSFET Device Characteristics Using USB Interfaced Power Supplies
UR - https://peer.asee.org/26354
DO - 10.18260/p.26354
ER -