In this section:
Introduction .............................................................................. 6-1
Equipment required .................................................................. 6-1
Set up remote communications ................................................ 6-2
Device connections .................................................................. 6-2
Measuring leakage current ....................................................... 6-4
Measuring insulation resistance ............................................... 6-8
Introduction
To measure the leakage current or insulation resistance of a device, you need to apply a fixed voltage
to the device and measure the resulting current. Depending on the device under test, the measured
current is typically very small, usually less than 10 nA.
This application consists of two examples that demonstrate:
•
How to use the Model 2450 to perform leakage current measurements on a capacitor
•
How to use the Model 2450 to measure insulation resistance between the two conductors of a
coaxial cable
The only difference between these two application examples is that when you measure leakage
current, the results are returned in units of amperes. When you measure insulation resistance, the
results are returned in units of ohms.
The leakage current application applies the voltage for a specified period because the device needs
time to charge. In some cases, the resulting current is measured the entire time the device is biased.
In other cases, only one reading is made at the end of the soak period.
The following topics describe how to do these applications from the front panel. They also show how
to do them using a remote interface with SCPI commands or Test Script Processor (TSP
®
)
commands.
Equipment required
•
One Model 2450 Interactive SourceMeter
®
instrument
•
Two triaxial cables
•
One capacitor for the leakage current application
•
One coaxial cable or other device for the insulation resistance application
•
One ethernet, GPIB, or USB cable for the TSP and SCPI remote command examples
Section 6
Leakage current and insulation resistance
