Introduction

The Keysight Technologies B1505A Power Device Analyzer/Curve Tracer is a total solution for power

device measurement, providing superb measurement accuracy and resolution, high voltage and

current sourcing capability (up to 3000 V and 20 A), and an easy-to-use MS Windows based software

environment.

Measurement environment safety is extremely important for power device characterization because

the high voltages and currents used can cause serious injury and are even potentially fatal. To prevent

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equipped with an interlock function that does not allow the B1505A to force more than 42 V unless the

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Keysight also supplies an inline package socket module (N1259A-010) with the N1259A that allows

you to measure TO-220 and TO-3P type packaged power devices safely.

However, although these package types are widely-used for power devices, surface mount device

(SMD) style packages are becoming increasingly popular for power transistors. Obviously, the

N1259A-010 socket module cannot be used to test these types of power devices.

To meet this need, the Keysight B1505A also supports the universal socket module (N1259A-011)

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The N1259A-011 allows you to develop a custom socket module to measure the package type of your

choice.

This product note describes the procedure to develop custom socket modules to measure packaged

power devices other than TO-220 and TO-3P with the Keysight B1505A.

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