Transistor Curve Tracer
On USB, for bipolar trannies and FETs
Published in issue 386, February 2009
This practical instrument can be used to measure and record the characteristic curves of NPN and PNP bipolar transistors, N- and P-channel JFETs, and N- and P-channel MOSFETs. The circuit is based on an R8C/13 microcontroller, which transfers the measurement data to a Windows application program via USB.
Quick Project Specs
- R8C/13 microcontroller control module
- PC link via USB port
- User-friendly PC program with Help function (runs under Windows 2000 and XP)
- Curve data can be exported to and imported from Excel
- Checking transistor matching
- Records characteristic curves of NPN and PNP transistors, N-channel and P-channel MOSFETs, and N-channel and P-channel JFETs
- Plotted curves can be printed out or embedded in other applications Corrections The circuit diagram does not show the link between pin 11 of K1 and pin 22 of the R8C/13 module. The PCB for the project is not affected. In the circuit diagram (Figure 2, section a), the bussed connection between pin 22 (P3.0) of the R8C/13 module and resistor R24 is missing. This connection is however present on the circuit board, for which no modification is required. In the component list, transistor T2 should be a type BC557A, not BC547A. No modification is required to the PCB or the schematic.
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Click below to download a PDF copy of this article from Elektor magazine. Please note. In view of the complexity of international markets, Elektor cannot guarantee the availability of components for this project.
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