The Curve Tracer instrument inside of the WaveForms application allows you to work with the Transistor Tester Adapter and uses the relays of the platform to perform the specific measurements. It can also be used with devices having two waveform generator channels and either two differential oscilloscope inputs (Analog Discovery 1, 2, or 3) or four single-ended inputs (Electronics Explorer, Analog Discovery Pro). Within the WaveForms software, it is known as Tracer.
The Tracer instrument supports the ADP3450, Analog Discovery 3, Analog Discovery 2, Analog Discovery (Legacy) and the Electronic Explorer. To use the instrument, you will have to set up a reference circuit. However, if you are using the Analog Discovery 2 or Analog Discovery 3, you can instead take advantage of the Transistor Tester Adapter to create this circuit.
DiodeSelect Diode in the device type and hook up the signals as shown in the circuit to the right. |
NPN TransistorSelect NPN in the device type and hook up the signals as shown in the circuit to the right. In order to get good results, you will need to specify the value of Rc and Rb that you are using in your circuit. |
PNP TransistorSelect PNP in the device type and hook up the signals as shown in the circuit to the right. In order to get good results, you will need to specify the value of Rc and Rb that you are using in your circuit. |
N-Channel FETSelect N-FET in the device type and hook up the signals as shown in the circuit to the right. In order to get good results, you will need to specify the value of Rc and Rb that you are using in your circuit. |
P-Channel FETSelect P-FET in the device type and hook up the signals as shown in the circuit to the right. In order to get good results, you will need to specify the value of Rc and Rb that you are using in your circuit. |
There are many options for taking a measurement with the Transistor Tester Adapter .
When you take a measurement, it is performed in the Trace portion of the screen. The measurement can be saved as a Reference for comparison. The toggle button on the left enables the auto-hide of the toolbar. The button on the right changes the width in four steps. The check box shows or hides the respective trace in the plots.
The main plot is an XY view showing the current trace. What you are viewing is what you hav selected in the Measure pull down menu. In the image below, the Curve Tracer software is showing a plot of the Ic (collector current) versus Vbe (voltage from the base to emitter). This view lets you toggle the Auto Scaling which adjusts the axes based on the data of a new capture or channel selection. The X and Y channels can be selected and manually set the start and stop values of the axes. You can also use the mouse to drag and scroll along the left and bottoms sides of the plot.
You can add additional XY views similar to the main XY plot from the main View menu.
The XYZ 3D view allows you to plot a 3D scatter graph. Note that this feature is only available in the 64-bit versions of the Windows or macOS operating systems. Source trace, channels for the X, Y, and Z axes can be selected from the menu along the top side of the plot. The Auto Scale feature is on by default which will adjust the scales on new capture, source, or channel changes. The scale for each axis can be adjusted manually in the dropdown and on the sides of the view.
The gear dropdown menu contains the following options:
For more guides on how to use the Digilent Test and Measurement device, check out the device's Resource Center, linked from the Test and Measurement page of this wiki.
For more information on WaveForms, visit the WaveForms Reference Manual.
For technical support, please visit the Test and Measurement section of the Digilent Forums.