How can I use a Keysight oscilloscope as a basic I-V curve tracer?

Engineers typically use oscilloscopes to view plots of voltage versus time. However, Keysight scopes are also capable of displaying voltage versus voltage by using their "XY mode" or "versus" math function. These scopes can also display current versus voltage, flow versus pressure, etc. when current probes or other transducers are used.

One useful application of XY mode is to plot the I-V characteristics of a semiconductor device. Begin by probing the voltage across the terminals of interest with channel 1 (the X input), and the current through the terminal of interest with channel 2 (the Y input).

It is often most convenient to measure the current through a semiconductor device by probing the voltage across a shunt resistor. For example, if you wanted to characterize a diode, you might measure the current through the diode by measuring the voltage drop across a resistor in series with the diode.

For an example of creating a family of curves for a bipolar junction transistor (BJT), see the following write-up at Keysight's Educator's Corner website:
Curve Tracer

To plot current versus voltage on your scope, follow the instructions below for your particular model.

All 3000-series models:

1. Probe the voltage signal on channel 1 (the X input)
2. Probe the current signal on channel 2 (the Y input)
3. Scale channels 1 and 2 such that your signals occupy as much of the screen as possible (vertically), without clipping
4. Press the Main/Delayed button
5. Press the Time Base softkey to select X-Y mode. This will turn off the timebase and plot channel 2 (Y) versus channel 1 (X).
6. To return to normal operation, press the Main/Delayed button and then the Time Base softkey to select Y-T mode.

All 54600-series and 6000-series models:

1. Probe the voltage signal on channel 1 (the X input)
2. Probe the current signal on channel 2 (the Y input)
3. Scale channels 1 and 2 such that your signals occupy as much of the screen as possible (vertically), without clipping. You may want to enable the Vernier mode for each channel so that you can make very fine adjustments to the volts/division setting. To do this, press the channel button (1 or 2) and then the Vernier softkey.
4. Press the Main/Delayed button
5. Press the XY softkey. This will turn off the timebase and plot channel 2 (Y) versus channel 1 (X).
6. To return to normal operation, press the Main/Delayed button and then the Main softkey

All 54800-series (Infiniium) models:

1. Probe the voltage signal on channel 1 (we'll use this as the X input)
2. Probe the current signal on channel 2 (we'll use this as the Y input)
3. Scale channels 1 and 2 such that your signals occupy as much of the screen as possible (vertically), without clipping. You can make very fine adjustments by clicking in the channel’s volts/division field and entering a numeric value.
4. Click Analyze | Math/FFT
5. Click the Display On check box for Function 1
6. Select Versus from the Operator drop-down menu
7. Select Channel 2 for Source 1 and Channel 1 for Source 2
8. Press the 1 and 2 buttons to turn off channels 1 and 2 so that you only see the math function
9. To return to normal operation, turn on the desired channels, click Analyze | Math/FFT, and deselect the Display On check box for Function 1