Keysight Technologies Using an External Trigger to Measure Current with B2980A Series B2980A Femto/Picoammeter and Electrometer/High Resistance Meter Demo GuideIntroduction The Keysight Technologies, Inc. B2980A Series of Femto/Picoammeters and Electrometers/High Resistance Meters offers not only the best-in-class measurement performance, but also unprecedented measurement features that can maximize your measurement confidence as you expect. -17 The femto/picoammeters and electrometers both offer 0.01 fA (10 A) minimum current resolution, which should meet most of your existing and future low-level current measurement needs. 16 The electrometers feature a 1,000 V voltage sourcing capability that supports up to 10 P (10 ) resistance measurements. The electrometers also work with Keysights well-proven high resistance meter accessories. The femto/picometer and electrometer/high resistance meter both have battery-powered versions that eliminate AC power-line noise. This low-noise environment allows you to make very sensitive, low-level measurements that were previously impossible. Unlike conventional picoammeters and electrometers, the B2980A series features a 4.3 color LCD graphical user interface (GUI) enabling various viewing capabilities such as numeric, graph, histogram and roll (trend chart), which allows you to easily capture the transient behavior or to efficiently make a quick statistical analysis without using an external PC. This demonstration guide highlights the excellent measurement and triggering capabilities of the B2980A series. The methodology involves sending an electronic trigger signal to a B2980A series electometer and making a current measurement. In this example, the electrometer receives an external trigger signal with specific timing parameters, such as 500 ms measurement delay, while sourcing 1 V across 100 Gresistor. Required Instrument and Accessories All of the accessories required to perform the demos described in this demonstration guide are provided in a demo kit that is included with Keysight B2987A demo units except for the external trigger source. B2981-61715 Keysight B2987A Electrometer 16494A-001 Triax cable Banana to lug cable U8201-60001 Xtention lead set for straight plugs N1422A High resistance demo kit 16493B-001 Coaxial cable