CS-8500 Curve Tracer

The IWATSU CS-8500 is the highest-voltage mainframe in the CS-8000 Series. It combines a dedicated high-voltage unit with the series' medium-voltage and gate units, providing a flexible platform for evaluating semiconductor characteristics across high-voltage, low-current and medium-voltage operating regions.

The integrated HV unit provides up to 5 kV at 8 mA, corresponding to a maximum peak power of 40 W. Available HV voltage ranges extend from 200 V to 5 kV, and the system supports both DC and pulse operation with positive or negative polarity. Constant-voltage and constant-current drive measurements are supported for flexible device characterization.

For measurement, the HV section provides voltage ranges from 50 V to 5 kV. The CS-8500 can measure HV current up to 10 mA, while dedicated LEAKAGE operation provides current ranges down to 5 nA. The system architecture achieves a minimum current measurement resolution of 250 fA, supporting accurate low-current and leakage characterization alongside high-voltage testing.

The integrated medium-voltage unit provides a maximum peak power of 200 W, supporting output combinations of 200 V / 1 A and 100 V / 2 A. Current measurement ranges extend from 5 nA to 2 A, and supported operating modes include DC, pulse, long pulse, sine and rectified-sine waveforms.

The built-in GATE unit delivers up to 40 V / 1 A and provides voltage measurement ranges from 1 V to 50 V and current measurement ranges from 5 nA to 1 A. Programmable gate sequencing includes a -40 V to +40 V pre-signal range and configurable hold-time stages from 0 to 5 seconds, enabling semiconductor devices to be tested under different gate-bias conditions.

The CS-8500 supports single, repeat and stop measurement modes, together with one-point, single-sweep and double-sweep operation. Up to 1,000 sweep steps can be configured. The double-sweep function is particularly useful for examining hysteresis characteristics in wide-bandgap semiconductor devices such as SiC and GaN.

A 12.1-inch TFT-LCD touch panel with 1280 × 800 WXGA resolution provides X-Y characteristic curves, Y-T waveform monitoring, measurement data and cursor information. Waveform, measurement and setup data can be stored internally or on USB memory, while 10/100/1000BASE-T LAN connectivity supports remote control and automated test environments.

For applications requiring high-current characterization, the CS-8500 can be combined with optional CS-205, CS-210 or CS-220 high-current units, extending pulse-current capability to 500 A, 1,000 A or 2,000 A respectively at up to 50 V. These high-current units are optional and are not included with the basic CS-8500 mainframe.

According to PMK America, the CS-8500 requires the CC-8500 Calibration Certificate, ID-8500 Inspection Test Data, CS-021 HV standard connection cable set and CS-322 test fixture. The CS-520 patch panel, CS-5xx test adapters and CS-2xx current-extension units are not included with the listed mainframe configuration.