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design for a GOOD TRANSISTOR CURVE TRACER ?

G'day everyone,

I'm planning on building a transistor curve tracer, but so far haven't found a 'suitable' design. The only things I've found are general curve tracers (for diodes, C's, R's, etc.), not the genuine ones meant for transistors (apart from the odd very simple design).

So, does anyone have any 'real' projects/designs for a good (i.e., general usable, for transistors, fets, etc.) transistor curve tracer? Difficulty won't be much of an issue, I'm not an electronics beginner. I'd like it to work and look at least as good as a professional/commercial design (or as near to it as possible).

I'd greatly appreciate any help. I've been looking a couple of days now on the web, but so far haven't found anything.

Grtz,

Peter.

Reply to
peter dingemans
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Tektronix produce very good manuals for theirs, buy 1, read it.

Reply to
CBarn24050

A curve tracer is not a difficult project ... for casual use. A binary counter driving a D/A converter will provide the gate voltage/base current steps (more circuits needed for constant current base drive but not too tough with an op-amp or two). A sawtooth generator (synched to the counter) provides the drain/collector signal. A current sampler (drain or collector circuit) drives the vertical input to a scope and the sawtooth provides x-axis modulation.

High power/high voltage capability adds complexity as does accuracy and temperature stability.

It's a fun project, as I have built a few.

Reply to
Charles Schuler

You can download lots of Heathkit equipment schematics from:

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There, you'll find schematics for the Heathkit model IT-1121, a very nice full-featured curve tracer. I have just acquired one of these units and it's nothing short of fantastic, given its age and cost. It will give you curves for NPN/PNP bipolars, N-channel and p-channel JFets, as well as diodes (even tunnel diodes). The collector supply will go up to 200 VDC, and allows you to choose base/gate current/voltage steps, and the collector/drain load.

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Cheers!!! And best of luck on your project.

-- Dave M MasonDG44 at comcast dot net (Just subsitute the appropriate characters in the address)

Never take a laxative and a sleeping pill at the same time!!

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Reply to
Tweetldee

Amongst _many_ found by Googling....

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...Jim Thompson

--
|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
|  Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
|  Phoenix, Arizona            Voice:(480)460-2350  |             |
|  E-mail Address at Website     Fax:(480)460-2142  |  Brass Rat  |
|       http://www.analog-innovations.com           |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.      Sometimes I even put it in the food.
Reply to
Jim Thompson

Well, download the schematics and manuals for the tektronix 557 and 7CT1 from here:

bama.sbc.edu (or bama,edebris.com) for the older 557.

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for the 7CT1 /7CT1N.

this gives you a good start and detailed idea how to the project right :)

hth, Andreas

Reply to
TekMan

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