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TESTING  OTHER  SEMICONDUCTOR  DEVICES 

Diacs 

A  diac  is  a  two-terminal,  three-layer  semiconduc­

tor that exhibits the breakdown  characteristic of two 

zener diodes placed back-to-back (birectional break­

down).  It is non-conductive until the applied voltage 

exceeds  its  breakdown  value,  then  current  ava­

lanches and  the  voltage  drops  across  the  terminals 

drops to  near  zero.  Once  conduction  has  started,  it 

continues  until  the  current  drops  below  a  holding 

current value necessary  to sustain  operation.  Leak­

age current. breakdown voltage, and holding current 

can  be  measured  with  the  curve tracer  (the display 

will  be  similar  to  that  of  an  SCR).  Since  it  is  bi­

directional. it should be tested in both polarities. 

Integrated Circuits 

Integrated  circuits  (IC's)  are  often  multiple  tran­

sistors or  semiconductor devices packaged together. 

The  curve  tracer  may  be  used  to  test  such  !C's.  Jf 

the semiconducto!' devices can be identified and iso­

lated to specific terminals of the IC, they can be indi­

vidually tested with the curve tracer.  Be aware that 

other  circuit  elements  may  be  present  in  the  IC 

which may cause variation in the expected display, 

such as loops in the curves. 

MAINTENANCE  and  CALIBRATION 

The 501A is precisely calibrated at  the  factory for 

optimum  performance  and  should  never  require re­

adjustment except in rare cases of failure and repair. 

If recalibration is  necessary, however,  it can  be  ac­

complished  by  using  a  digital  voltmeter  and  a  few 

jumper  wires.  To  achieve  the  rated  specification 

accuracy,  it  is  necessary  that the digital meter be a 

3½  digit  unit,  and  possess  a  0.1 %  accuracy.  An 

alternate  but less accurctte method  (using an oscillo­

scope) is given if a digital meter is not available. 

CALIBRATION  PROCEDURE 

1.  Stand the  unit on its left end  panel and remove 

3  screws retaining  the  bottom  plate.  Pry  loose 

the bottom plate and remove. 

2. Remove  4  screws retaining the 

right 

end  panel

to  the  main  assembly;  two  oi  these  are  on  the

exterior  surface  and  the  other  two  hold  the  PC

board to this panel.  Pull off the end panel.

3. Using  jumpers  or  temporarily  soldered  wires.

short TP30, TP31 and TP32 to the  +S Volt line on

the PC board.

4. Attach  a digital  voltmeter  to  TP29  and  turn  on

AC power to the unit.

5. Adjust the  CALIBRATE pot R36 for a reading of

-3.50 Volts on the digital meter.

6. Remove the wires as indicated in step #3.

7. Attach  the  digital  voltmeter  to TP24A temporar­

ily  short  TP29  to  ground,  and  adjust  the  ZERO

pot.  R37,  for  a  zero  reading  on  the  voltmeter.

Remove  the  temporary  short.  The  unit  is  now

calibrated.

Figure 38.  Location of Internal Adjustments 

30 

Alternate Method using an Oscilloscope 

(less accuracy): 

I. Attach the 

direct 

input probe of a well-calibrated

DC  coupled  oscilloscope  to  TP29.  Ground  the

scope to the 501A ground.

2. Turn on AC  power  to  the  curve tracer and  syn­

chronize  the  oscilloscope  to  view  the  negative

going staircase present at TP29.

3. Once synchronized, adjust  CALIBRATE trimmer

R36,  to obtain 0.5 Volt between each  step of the

staircase.

4. Turn  the  unit  off  and attach  a  lOK  resistor  be­

tween  the  B-E  terminals  of  one side  of  the  unit

(SOCKET switch towards that side); temporarily

short TP29 to ground.

5.  Attach  a  DC  voltmeter  across  the  lOK  resistor

and set it for the most sensitve DC range.

Note:  Ensure  that  the  meter  is  properly  zeroed

before attaching it.

6.  Rotate  the  501A  STEP  SELECTOR  to  the  2mA 

position and set POLARITY to NPN.

7. Turn the AC  power on and adjust the ZERO trim­

mer on the 501A PC  board until the DC voltmeter

reads "O".  Remove temporary short from TP29.

Note:  The trimmer  has  a negative and  positive

range; preset it to center before adjustment.

CURVE  DISPLAY  MODIFICATION 

The  Model  501A  is  factory  adjusted  to  display  6 

curves  - 5  active  and  a  zero  reference  baseline, 

sometimes referred to as step "0". Thru simple manip­

ulation  of  the  reset diodes,  it  is  possible  to  display 

any number  of curves  from  2 through  8.  Figure  39 

shows the locations of these diodes on  the PC board. 

Note  the  two  extra  "dotted"  diodes  (marked  Dl lA 

and Dl2A) on the top side nomenclature.  These are 

extra  positions  left  open  for  such  modification.  The 

chart  below  indicates the  placement  of  diodes  that 

will produce a given number of curves. 

Number of Display  Curves:  Position of Diode(s): 

Dl l 

Dll and Dl lA 

D12 

Dl lA and Dl2 

Dl l  and Dl2 

Dl l, Dl lA, and Dl2 

Short TP43 to GROUND 

Содержание 501A

Страница 1: ...Model 501A Semiconductor Curve Tracer...

Страница 2: ...ave helped provide better and faster service techniques Close contact has been maintained with the manufacturers of consumer products which our test units will be checking and trouble shooting Key per...

Страница 3: ...INSTRUCTION MANUAL FOR B K PRECISION MODEL 501A SEMICONDUCTOR CURVE TRACER 8 K DIVISION OF DYNASCAN CORPORATION 1801 W Belle Plaine Avenue Chicago Illinois 60613 Copyright 1972...

Страница 4: ...PPLICATIONS 14 Testing Bipolar Transistors 14 NPN vs PNP Transistors 14 CURRENT GAIN MEASUREMENT 14 DC Current Gain DC beta 15 AC Current Gain AC beta 15 Summary of Transistor Current Gain 16 Current...

Страница 5: ...4 IC 5 6 7 8 Q 1 Q 2 3 Q 4 Q 5 6 11 12 Q 8 9 10 SW 2 SW 3 SW 4 SW 5 11 72 488 113 9 002 8 DESCRIPTION CAPACITORS B K PART No 1000 fd 35 Volt Electrolytic Capacitor 022 001 9 015 100 fd 25 Volt Electro...

Страница 6: ...SJ TEP l OLA l lIt S lfilJC T TO f W f 0 1T N SOC tt SCLtCTOR SET TO lh Hr l OSIHO t I VUtf J 1 S NSITl TV SW l N l TO jl l Ai IV u 01 i t S1 l I IO i G l l G iT SO J tl T Rw t C t I 1 Ill 1S 1 IW 1 4...

Страница 7: ...er general purpose oscilloscope is satisfactory as long as it has external horizontal facilities and is DC coupled The B K Models 1440 1460 and 1465 Oscilloscopes are ideal companions for the Model SO...

Страница 8: ...7 8 17 16 15 14 13 12 II 10 9 18 0 0 Figure 1 Controls and Operator s Facilities 2...

Страница 9: ...rts base to emit ter terminal for measuring collector emitter leakage cur rent with O Volt base bias Selects the gate voltage step value for testing FET s The unit automatically generates gate voltage...

Страница 10: ...sitions of the STEP SELECTOR switch constant voltage steps are generated for testing FET s Five selections from 05 to 1 volt per step are offered The polarity of the voltage steps is inverted in relat...

Страница 11: ...rent thru the semiconductor being tested and the hori zontal divisions must accurately represent the sweep voltage applied to the semiconductor being tested that is the oscilloscope must be calibrated...

Страница 12: ...of reading the horizontal voltage is available by connecting the sweep voltage output of the curve tracer H jack to the horizontal input of the oscillo scope This method will produce a horizontal trac...

Страница 13: ...Ground the vertical input if desired Adjust HORIZONTAL GAIN so 4 Connect a test lead from the H jack of the curve tracer to the horizontal input of the oscilloscope 5 Set the SWEEP VOLTAGE control to...

Страница 14: ...aneously switched from one semiconductor to the other The SOCKET switch may also be used to start and stop the test of the semiconductor merely activate the empty socket to stop the test This allows c...

Страница 15: ...ied for testing zener diodes leakage of signal and rectifier diodes and inverse peak breakdown voltage Forward bias characteristics show voltage drop across the diode junction and resistive or open co...

Страница 16: ...t r 3 2ti l p pr t r 1 l 0 2 3 6 7 8 9 10 ADJUST OSCIL LOSCOPE CENTERING CONTROLS TO PLACE START OF ZERO REFERENCE STEP HERE NPN transistors the display should be posi tioned so the curves start at th...

Страница 17: ...f the display Increasing the setting widens the display and may cause the display to go off scale Decrease and increase the setting of the control and note the effect upon the display If increasing th...

Страница 18: ...s displayed on the VERTICAL SENSITIVITY range being used If the setting is too high some of the curves may reach the current limiting value and be superim posed on each other causing less than five cu...

Страница 19: ...ideal for making contact to transistors mounted on P C Boards Refer to the In circuit Probe section for more information When performing in circuit tests use the fast set up markers on the 501 front...

Страница 20: ...turn the VERTICAL SENSITIVITY to the 1 mA Div position after each test so that the next test begins with full protection NPN vs PNP Transistors As described previously in the Typical Test section the...

Страница 21: ...ent point Simply approx imate the percentage of distance between the curves above and below the poin use it as a percentage of one step to obtain total base current when added to the number of current...

Страница 22: ...to gether at higher collector current Each base current step has precisely the same amount of increase which should cause the collector current curves to be separated by equal amounts if the gain wer...

Страница 23: ...d does not introduce distortion If 6 10 s are imbalanced distortion will be intro duced due to this non linearity The greater the im balance the greater the distortion The distortion measurement can b...

Страница 24: ...would be destroyed by the test Figure 21 shows a typical family of curves with the sweep voltage set high to cause collector break down In the examples shown in the figure break down occurs at a coll...

Страница 25: ...t portion of the family of curves in the area of low collector voltage and current below the knee of each curve Notice that the knee of each curve occurs at approximately the same collector voltage re...

Страница 26: ...tance The transistor s output impedance or collector resistance is the reciprocal of its output admittance and is measured in ohms It may be calculated by transposing the current and voltage values us...

Страница 27: ...collector voltage at various base currents FET curves are a graph of drain current vs drain voltage at various gate voltages FET breakdown voltage may be observed and measured by the same method used...

Страница 28: ...e MOS FET s can be damaged by a voltage transient from a static charge carried by the person handling the device Safeguard against such damage and discharge any static charge by touching ground with o...

Страница 29: ...ty may be determined by the same method as desribed for transistors if the spacing between curves is equal the FET is linear Pinch Off Vp Voltage Measurement An important characteristic for depletion...

Страница 30: ...scale GERMANIUM SILICON 1 100 80 Io ma 0 5 1 1 5 VF volts FORWARD BIAS 2 2 5 When testing diodes only one curve is displayed not a family of curves as displayed for transistors and FET s The forward b...

Страница 31: ...OLT j _ _ 2 I I I ZENER I i 1 1 filgl i I i l j i I I I H i_ i t lJ__tH 10 a 6 VR 4 2 o SHARP ZENER KNEE To obtain the most accurate voltage reading pos sible calibrate the full scale oscilloscope hor...

Страница 32: ...y The curves C E appear quite close together and careful observation may be required to distinguish the individual curves It may be helpful to spread out the display by in creasing the horizontal sens...

Страница 33: ...e Any anode current at anode voltage below the firing point is forward leakage current and can be read directly from the display Reverse Blocking Voltage Reverse blocking voltage is the maximum revers...

Страница 34: ...age and increase the de bias supply until the SCR switches on Measure the value of gate voltage at which switching occurred 2 Set the de bias supply to a specified gate volt age and increase the sweep...

Страница 35: ...I I 1 Vp t I I I I 10 I 1 i I i 1 L 1 1 I 1 I 5 I i I 1 5 J MA I I l l Ip peak current start of tunnel region Iv valley current end of tunnel region Vp peak voltage start of tunnel region Vv valley v...

Страница 36: ...y soldered wires short TP30 TP31 and TP32 to the S Volt line on the PC board 4 Attach a digital voltmeter to TP29 and turn on AC power to the unit 5 Adjust the CALIBRATE pot R36 for a reading of 3 50...

Страница 37: ...board It is most important to follow the explicit control setting and set up pro cedure as given in the notes column in order to obtain the illustrated waveforms Point by point sig nal tracing with a...

Страница 38: ...VAC 50 IOkl l IG H VOLTAGE ECONO Ut f aiJitllttN1 u nsim R Sl l0ll S 6 SEL CTOR to a countdown chain composed of 3 flip flops within two IC packages IC3 and 4 The second flip flop of IC4 is not used...

Страница 39: ...through the SOCKET SELEC TOR to the desired test socket RIGHT or LEFT The higher voltage secondary of the power trans former is full wave rectified by a diode bridge DI through D4 to produce a 120Hz s...

Страница 40: ...se new from an authorl r ed B K distributor Our obligation under this warranty is limited to repairing or replacing any product or component which we are satisfied does not conform with the fore going...

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