Current-Voltage

Measurements

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 Objectives/Intended Learning Outcome:
At the end of this lesson, students should be able to:
1. List down the characteristics of the Two-probe technique
2. Sketch a schematic diagram of the Two-probe technique
3. List the disadvantages of the Two-probe technique
4. I-V characteristics of some electronic devices
5. List down the characteristics of the Four-probe technique
6. Sketch a schematic diagram of the Four-probe technique
7. List the advantages of the Four-probe technique
8. Derive the equation for sheet resistivity, Rs =  V
ln 2 I
9. Definition of geometric factor
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 BASIC CONSIDERATIONS
Electrical measurements are usually based on current
and voltage measurements
Current and voltage measurements are carried out in
an extremely wide range: aA to kA and nV to MV
Parameters measured includes:
Direct voltage
Direct current
Mean value
Mean absolute value
Root mean square value
Peak value
Instantaneous value
Vector components
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 MEASURING NETWORKS
•In current and voltage measurement
technology the proper design of
measuring networks is vital
•Interferences disturb the
measurement
•Interferences includes: high-voltage,
high-current sources, electric and
magnetic fields, common-mode
signals, offsets, thermal noises,
thermoelectric voltage
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 MEASURING NETWORKS
Model of measuring network

Device
Measuring Measuring
under
leads: ML instrument
test: DUT

Interference sources

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 I-V MEASUREMENT
•2-point probe technique
•4-point probe technique

•2-probe electrical measurements

are used for general purpose I-V
measurements

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 2-POINT PROBE THEORY
•A known current I is sourced
•Flows through Rdut (unknown
resistance)
•Then R=V/I
•Problem: voltage that is
measured includes the
resistance of the leads and
I
contacts
•Affects accuracy of
measurements especially if the
resistance to be measured is
low
•Use 4-point probe
R1 = Rlead1 +Rcontact 1 measurements instead

R2= Rlead2 +Rcontact 2

Vsense=I(R1+ Rdut + R2)
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 I-V CHARACTERISTICS: DIODE
Schematic circuit diagram for determining
characteristic curve of diode

Variable
resistor
(0-100k)
Diode V
A

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 I-V CHARACTERISTICS: DIODE

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 I-V CHARACTERISTICS: DIODE
• Forward bias:
Only conducts significant current when the voltage
reaches 0.7 V. This is VF
After that large increase in current cause little change in
voltage.
• Reverse bias:
Conduct significant current when reach breakdown
threshold voltage ( 200 V).
The breakdown voltage must be much greater than the
peak input voltage (PIV) rating of the diode (device
dependent). This is VRRM.

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 I-V CHARACTERISTICS:
SOLAR CELL (PV)
Polycrystalline silicon solar cell is used with
active area of 8.5 cm x 8.5 cm under
illumination from an artificial light source
with intensity of 8.4 mWcm-2

Solar Variable
cell resistor
V
(0-100k)
A

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 I-V CHARACTERISTICS:
SOLAR CELL
PV cells can be modeled as a current source in
parallel with a diode. When there is no light
present to generate any current, the PV cell
behaves like a diode. As the intensity of incident
light increases, current is generated by the PV
cell, as illustrated in the figure:

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 I-V CHARACTERISTICS:
SOLAR CELL
Exponential increase in current as the voltage
declines
Isc
Current/mA

I-V graph
I mp Pmax
Pmax Voc

V mp
Voltage/V P-V graph
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 I-V CHARACTERISTICS:
SOLAR CELL
Voc = open circuit voltage = voltage when the
impedance is maximum i.e when I = 0
Voc = Vmax for forward-bias power quadrant
Isc = short-circuit current = the current when the
impedance is low i.e. when V = 0
ISC occurs at the beginning of the forward-bias sweep
and is the maximum current value in the power
quadrant. For an ideal cell, this maximum current
value is the total current produced in the solar cell by
photon excitation.
Can calculate fill factor (FF)
Can calculate efficiency,  of solar cell

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 I-V CHARACTERISTICS:
SOLAR CELL
FF is a measure of the quality of the solar cell
It is defined as the ratio of max power to the
theoretical power

From graph, Isc= 286 mA

Voc= 0.468 V
Vmp= 0.343 V
Imp= 236 mA
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Thus FF = 0.61 or 61%
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 I-V CHARACTERISTICS:
SOLAR CELL
Efficiency,  is the ratio of the electrical power
output to the solar power input, into the solar cell.
Pout can be taken to be Pmax since the solar cell
can be operated up to its maximum power output
to get the maximum efficiency
Pin is taken to be the intensity of the incident light
in Wm-2.

 = (236 mA x 0.343V) = 0.13 or 13 %

(8.4 mWcm-2 x 72.25 cm2)
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 I-V CHARACTERISTICS:
SOLAR CELL
The efficiency of solar cell is reduced by the
dissipation of power across internal resistances
These parasitic resistances can be modeled as a
parallel shunt resistance (RSH) and and a series
resistance (RS) as shown in the figure
RS I
+

IL RSH
V

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Equivalent circuit model for a solar cell
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 I-V CHARACTERISTICS:
SOLAR CELL
Values of RSH and RS can be estimated from the
I-Vcurve:
RSH is the inverse of the gradient at Isc
RS is the inverse of the gradient at Voc

For high
efficiency
RSH
would be
infinitely
large
while Rs
would be
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 I-V CHARACTERISTICS: FUEL
CELL (Hydrogen)
Fuel cell is a device that converts chemical
energy into electrical energy
In hydrogen fuel cell, H2 gas is reacted with
O2 gas to form water.
At anode: 2H2  4H+ + 4e (oxidation)
At cathode: O2 + 4H+ + 4e  2H2O (reduction)
Overall: 2H2 + O2  2H2O
During the reaction a potential difference E is
generated
Theoretically for hydrogen fuel cell, E =1.23 V
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 I-V CHARACTERISTICS: FUEL
CELL (Hydrogen)
Schematic diagram of IV charcterisation of
fuel cell

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 I-V CHARACTERISTICS: FUEL
CELL
Exponential decay in voltage
Voc = open
as the current increases circuit
voltage =
Voc maximum
voltage
drawn by
the fuel cell
i.e at I=0
Can
calculate
efficiency
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 I-V CHARACTERISTICS: FUEL
CELL
Efficiency is given by:

EG is taken to be Voc and ET= 1.23 V for

hydrogen fuel cell.
From graph, Voc = 0.96 V
 = 0.96/1.23 = 0.78 of 78%

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10/31/2019

Copyright DRJJ, ASERG, FSG, UiTM, 2004 23

 4-POINT PROBE THEORY
A resistance measuring technique that uses separate pairs
of current-carrying and voltage-sensing electrodes to make
more accurate measurements than traditional two-terminal
(2T) sensing.
Also known as Kelvin sensing, after William Thomson, Lord
Kelvin, who invented the Kelvin bridge in 1861 to measure
very low resistances.

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 4-POINT PROBE THEORY
Current is supplied via a pair of force connections by a high impedance
current source .
A voltage drop is developed across the DUT to be measured according
to Ohm's law V=IR.
This current also generates a voltage drop across the force wires
themselves.
To avoid including that in the measurement, a pair of sense connections
are made immediately adjacent to the target impedance.
The accuracy of the technique comes from the fact that almost no
current flows in the sense wires, so the voltage drop V=IR is extremely
low.
It is conventional to arrange the sense wires as the inside pair, while the
force wires are the outside pair.
The force and sense connections can theoretically be exchanged without
affecting the accuracy of the technique, but this leads to uncertainty
regarding exactly where within the force connection the resistance
measurement begins, as the force connections are relatively large to
carry the necessary current, while the sense connections can be very
small.
The technique is commonly used in low-voltage power supplies, where it
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 4-POINT PROBE THEORY

Four-point measurement of resistance

between voltage sense connections 2 and
3.
Current is supplied via force connections
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 4-POINT PROBE THEORY

R3 = Rlead3 +Rcontact 3
R4= Rlead4 +Rcontact 4
Vsense= VR5 + IRdut + VR6
Because I-vm = 0, Vmeas= IRdut
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 4-POINT VERSUS 2-POINT

The key difference between 4T and 2T

sensing is that the separation of current
and voltage electrodes in 4T allows the
ohmmeter/impedance analyzer to eliminate
the impedance contribution of the wiring
and contact resistances, given that the
voltage electrodes have high enough input
impedance.

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 4-T TECHNIQUE
•The purpose of the 4-point probe technique is to
measure the resistivity of any semiconductor material
by contact with its surface.
•The method is sensitive to various parameters such as
substrate material, probe separation, probe depth, tip
radius etc.
•It can measure either bulk or thin film specimen, each
of which consists of a different expression.
•The four probes are equally spaced metal tips (eg.
tungsten )with finite radius.
•Each tip is supported by springs on the other end to
minimize sample damage during probing. The four
metal tips are part of an auto-mechanical stage which
travels up and down during measurements.
•Typical probe spacing s ~ 1 mm.
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 SHEET RESISTANCE, Rs
•WHAT IS Rs?
•Rs is a measure of the resistance of thin films that
have a uniform thickness.
•Commonly used to characterize materials made
by semiconductor doping, metal deposition,
resistive paste printing , glass coating, biotissues
etc.
•WHY Rs ?
•The utility of Rs, as opposed to resistance or
resistivity, is that it is directly measured using a
four-point probe measurement.

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 SHEET RESISTANCE
Sheet resistance is applicable to 2-D systems where the thin film is
considered t o be a 2-dimensional entity.

I
I

Current flows along the plane of the sheet and not perpendicular to it.
In regular 3-D conductor,
resistance is given by:

Grouping resistivity with

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thickness , resistance can
be written as:
i.e. Rs= /t
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 DERIVATION OF BULK
RESISTIVITY: BULK SAMPLE
Bulk sample: t >>s ( t  5s)
Assumption: a spherical protrusion of current emanates
from the outer probe tips
Assumption: metal tip is infinitely small and samples are
semi-infinite in volume/lateral dimension(it extends to
infinity in all directions below the plane in which the four
probes are located)

Then:

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 DERIVATION OF BULK
RESISTIVITY : BULK SAMPLE
Integrating between the inner probe tips (where the
voltage is measured):

Where probe spacing is uniformly s

Due to the superposition of current at the
outer two tips, R = V/2I.
Thus, bulk resistivity:

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 DERIVATION OF SHEET
RESITIVITY : THIN SHEET
Thin sheet: t << s (t 0.5s)
Assumption: current rings emanates
from the outer probe tips instead of
spheres.
Therefore, the expression for the area
A= 2xt.
Thus, resistance R is given by:

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 DERIVATION OF SHEET
RESITIVITY : THIN SHEET
For R=V/2I
The sheet resistivity is then;
= t V
ln2 I
Note that this expression is independent
of the probe spacing s.
This expression is frequently used for
characterization of semiconductor
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 SHEET RESISTIVITY: THIN
SHEET
Since Rs=/t
Compare to  = t V
ln2 I

Then:  =  V
t ln2 I
Thus Rs =  V = k V
ln2 I I
k is known as the geometric factor/correction factor
For a semi-infinite thin sheet, k = 4.53 (i.e. /ln2)
For non ideal samples k will be different
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 GEOMETRIC FACTOR, k
The geometry of the sample determines the
correction factors that must be used, additionally the
position of the probes on the sample and the
spacing between the probes.
The need for correction factors is caused by the
proximity of a boundary which limits the possible
current paths in the sample. The most basic sample
would be semi-infinite in extent(extends to infinity in
all directions below the plane in which the 4 probes
are located )
All other cases would restrict the current paths
available, eg. an infinite plane sample of finite
thickness requires a correction factor based on the
thickness.
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 GEOMETRIC FACTOR, k
d/s Correction
The table shows the
3 0.5
correction factors for
3.448 0.5374
4 0.6462
measuring a "thin, circular
5 0.7419 slice".
7.5 0.8665 The sheet resistance
8.696 0.8972 measurements are made in
10 0.9204 the center of the circular slice.
12.5 0.9475
d/s = diameter of sample
15 0.9628
20 0.9788
divided by probe spacing
28.57 0.9895 For example, if d = 4 mm and s = 1mm
40 0.9945 The correction factor is 0.6462.
If d = 100 mm and s = 1 mm
100 0.9991
Correction factor = 0.9991
infinite 1
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 LIMITS OF MEASUREMENT
CAPABILITY
The material must be capable of being probed, i.e.
the probes must be able to make ohmic contact
with the material e.g. Germanium, Silicon and
metals. Materials such as Gallium Arsenide cannot
normally be probed unless it is doped and
measured with special measuring probes such as
GaAs probe.

Very low resistivity material e.g. aluminium, gold,

platinum may require maximum current from the
current source to achieve a reading on the digital
voltage display.
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 LIMITS OF MEASUREMENT
CAPABILITY
High sheet resistivity material e.g. ion-
implanted silicon wafers, silicon on sapphire,
can be measured using very low currents (say
1 microamp or less) and avoid voltage
indication greater than 100mV.

Low level measurements are beset with

problems e.g. electrical noise due to poor
contact conditions, thermally induced voltages,
actinic effects, offset voltages produced by
devices in the current source, and general
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leakage in plugs, lead etc.
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