Section 3: Test subroutine library reference S530 Parametric Test System Test Subroutine Library User's Manual
3-50 S530-907-01 Rev. A / September 2015
rcsat
This subroutine estimates the collector resistance (R
C
) modeling parameter when collector current (I
C
) and base
current (I
B
) are swept at a constant beta ().
Usage
double rcsat(int e, int b, int c, int sub, double ice1, double ice2, double beta,
double vsub, int npts, double *r, int *iflag)
The emitter pin of the device
The base pin of the device
The collector pin of the device
The substrate pin of the device
The start of the collector-emitter current (I
CE
) sweep, in amperes
The end of the I
CE
sweep, in amperes
The forced substrate bias, in volts
The number of points in the sweep
The correlation coefficient
0 = Normal completion
1 = Insufficient points for LLSQ analysis
2 = Calculated LLSQ slope is 0.0
The collector resistance modeling parameter
Details
This subroutine estimates the modeling parameter RC in the saturation region of a transistor using
Getreu's method (Ian Getreu, Modeling the Bipolar Transistor, Tektronix, 1976). Current is stepped
into the base and collector at a specified (normally 10). The developed collector-emitter voltage
(V
CE
) is measured. V
CE
and I
CE
data is extracted from the positive slope portion of the curve, and a
linear least-squares (LLSQ) line is fit to the data. The inverse of the slope of this line gives R
CSAT
. The
device is in the common-emitter configuration.
For high-speed or microwave bipolar devices, best results are obtained by starting at the maximum
current and sweeping the current to a lower value.
An incorrect value of can result in a large excursion of V
CE
, which may break down the device.
Because of this, the collector voltage is limited to 16 V.
To measure R
C SAT
correctly, make sure the transistor is saturated. You can do this by entering a
smaller than actual value for (overdriving the base).