Agilent Technologies Announces Precision Low-Noise Power Source for Electronics Industry and Research

02/11/2013

Agilent Technologies Inc. introduced two new low-noise power sources. Members of the Agilent B2900A precision instrument family, the one-channel B2961A and the two-channel B2962A are revolutionary power supplies for precision low-noise voltage/current sourcing.

Both units feature best-in-class 6.5 digit and 100 nV/10 fA resolutions, 10 µVrms noise performance, wide bipolar operating ranges up to 210 V/3 A DC or 10.5 A pulse, more innovative sourcing functions and an intuitive graphical user interface.

Precision low-noise voltage/current sourcing has been difficult to achieve with conventional power supplies and sources.

Power supplies and sources are essential instruments for most electronic test and evaluation needs across the industry. Due to strong demand for lower power consumption and higher data rates (not to mention advances in the use of new materials), more subtle and more sensitive signals must be managed to fully characterize the devices or samples under test. As a result, today's test equipment must meet stringent requirements for higher precision or lower noise. Because of these trends, power supplies and sources must now address increasingly difficult challenges.

Agilent's new power sources are ideal solutions where precision, low noise and more sourcing capabilities are required. They incorporate revolutionary performance and innovative sourcing capabilities beyond just a DC power source for every research and industry area.

These power sources provide effective solutions by offering:

• Superior 6.5 digit and 100 nV/10 fA resolutions, enabling more precise test and evaluation for higher bit ADCs or DACs that couldn't be tested with conventional voltage supplies or power sources.
• Wide bipolar voltage and current operation ranges (four-quadrant) up to 210 V/3 A DC or 10.5 A Pulse, which can cover broad applications.
• Output noise to 10 µVrms or 1 nVrms/vHz at 10 kHz using an optional ultra-low-noise filter. This enables critical testing of noise-sensitive devices or samples such as VCOs, crystal oscillators, ADCs, DACs, sensor/transducer devices and analog/RF ICs.
• Precision arbitrary waveform generation supporting six predefined common waveforms and a user-defined waveform at a frequency range from 10 mHz to 10 kHz. Unlike conventional power supplies and power sources, these power supplies enable engineers to output flexible voltage or current waveforms up to 210 V/3 A for advanced testing and evaluation, in addition to conventional static testing.
• Programmable output resistance with emulation of DC voltage/current output characteristics. By programming DC characteristics, the power supply works as "a virtual device" in place of an actual device such as an energy-generating device, driver ICs, or regulator ICs. This enables testing and evaluation under realistic conditions.
• An intuitive user interface on a 4.3-inch color LCD that includes a time-domain voltage/current waveform viewer and waveform preview.
• A built-in 4.5-digit voltage/current monitor that performs interactive testing and debugging quicker than conventional power supplies and power sources.

For more information on Agilent's B2961A and B2962A 6.5-digit low-noise power sources, visit www.agilent.com/find/b2900a.

Agilent Technologies Inc., www.agilent.com