Keithley’s Model 2657A High Power System SourceMeter SMU Instrument Receives EDN Magazine Award

Feb. 5, 2013 - PRLog -- Keithley Instruments, Inc., a world leader in advanced electrical test instruments and systems, announced today that the editors of EDN Magazine have named the Model 2657A High Power System SourceMeter Source Measure Unit (SMU) Instrument as one of the “100 Hot Products of 2012.” The 2012 EDN Hot 100 highlights the electronics industry’s most significant products of the year based on innovation, significance, usefulness, and popularity as determined by the publication’s editorial staff. The Model 2657A is one of nine new products recognized by EDN in the Test & Measurement category this year. To learn more about the Model 2657A, please visit www.keithley.com/products/dcac/currentvoltage/highpower/?mn=2657A.

Lee Stauffer, senior staff technologist for Keithley’s Semiconductor Measurements Group, notes, “It’s very gratifying that the editors at EDN recognized the advantages that the Model 2657A offers to engineers. Although some other SMU solutions on the market offer up to 3kV sourcing and measurement capabilities, their applications are relatively limited because they have just 12 watts of power, which is insufficient to characterize today’s power semi devices. The Model 2657A’s combination of high voltage at high power levels allows capturing important parametric data that other SMU solutions just can’t.”

The newest member of Keithley’s extensive family of SourceMeter SMU instruments, the Model 2657A is a high voltage, high power, low current source measure unit (SMU) instrument that delivers unprecedented power, precision, speed, flexibility, and ease of use to improve productivity in R&D, production test, and reliability environments. It is designed specifically for characterizing and testing high voltage electronics and power semiconductors, such as diodes, FETs, and IGBTs, as well as other components and materials in which high voltage, fast response, and precise measurements of voltage and current are required. The Model 2657A offers a highly flexible, four-quadrant voltage and current source/load coupled with precision voltage and current meters. It supports sourcing or sinking up to 180W of DC or pulsed power (±3000V@20mA, ±1500V@120mA). The precision, high speed 6½-digit measurement engine built into the Model 2657A provides 1fA (femtoamp) current measurement resolution to address the low-leakage requirements of next-generation power semiconductor devices. Applications for the Model 2657A include power semiconductor device characterization and testing; characterization of gallium nitride (GaN), silicon carbide (SiC), and other compound materials and devices; breakdown and leakage testing to 3kV; and characterization of sub-millisecond transients.

The Model 2657A is one of the building blocks for creating Keithley’s new Parametric Curve Tracer Configurations, which include everything necessary for the engineer to quickly create a complete test system for high power semiconductor device characterization.

Tektronix THS3000 Handheld Oscilloscopes Also Recognized

In addition to the Model 2657A, EDN’s editors named the Tektronix THS3000 series of handheld oscilloscopes to the 2012 Hot 100 list in the Test & Measurement category. With a weight of 4.8 pounds, seven hours of battery life, and four isolated channels, the THS3000 series is built for use in demanding conditions. The 10,000-point record length on all four channels enables the capture of extra waveform details at high sample rates. Keithley Instruments joined Tektronix as part of its test and measurement portfolio in 2010.

Linda Rae, Keithley’s president, noted, “Tektronix and Keithley have a common goal ─ to help our customers invent on a broader and deeper scale. We work toward that goal by offering complementary ranges of products that help our customers do their jobs faster, more easily, more cost-effectively, and with greater confidence.  The Model 2657A, which is built on Keithley’s fourth generation, industry-leading SourceMeter SMU instrument platform, not only represents our shared sense of the importance of ingenuity, precision, and simplicity, but also our on-going commitment to advancing SMU instrument technology.”

The complete list of EDN’s Hot 100 products for 2012 is published online at http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4401457/EDN... and in the print edition of the December 14, 2012 issue of EDN Magazine.