Automotive Power Testing Solutions

Automotive electronics operate in one of the harshest environments, countering constant mechanical vibration, noise, and wide temperature ranges, from subzero to > 1,600 ºF, or 800 ºC, temperatures.

What’s more challenging is the electrical environment. Carmakers are adding high-speed and high-power electronics to enable advanced driverassistance systems, infotainment, connectivity for vehicle-to-everything (V2X) applications, and, of course, longer-range EVs.

All this puts pressure on the automotive electronics designer, who must consider all requirements, including load dump, cold crank, reverse battery polarity, double battery jump, spikes, and other transients defined in LV 124, ISO 7637-2, ISO 16750-2, and TL 82066:

• input transients

• electromagnetic interference

• low quiescent current

• input voltage range

• output voltage / current

Validating Power at the Device Level

The term automotive power device describes diodes, insulatedgate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), MOSFETs, and the newer silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) devices. These devices control and convert electric power for various automotive applications, such as body electronics, infotainment and telematics, safety and security, chassis, and, increasingly, powertrains in electric vehicles (EVs).

Using devices with low conduction loss and low switching loss is essential to create fuel- and energy-efficient systems. The higher converter / inverter operating frequencies that GaN and SiC devices offer allow the surrounding capacitors and inductors to be smaller. The use of smaller parts reduces weight and increases energy efficiency for the vehicle.

The challenge lies in validating the energy efficiency of this device circuitry. Keysight offers power device test solutions for automotive components in various applications.

CX3300A device current waveform analyzer and anomalous waveform analytics

Critical EV functions use numerous microcontroller units (MCUs) and field-programmable gate array (FPGA) units. Any malfunction could lead to potential fatalities and detrimental business impacts, such as mass product recalls.

The Keysight CX3300A device current waveform analyzer and anomalous waveform analytics software (Figure 1) rapidly detect and analyze anomalous signals in these MCUs and FPGAs, enabling fast rectification of hardware, firmware, and software defects.

The CX3300A includes the following features:

• rare anomalous signal capture, measuring the subtle differences between normal and anomalous signals with high precision

• long-duration measurement up to 100 hours with 10 MSa/s sampling rate

• wide bandwidth up to 200 MHz

• high-resolution at 14 bits / 16 bits

• low noise with high sensitivity from sub-nA and sub-uV

B1505A power device analyzer / curve tracer

The Keysight B1505A is a single-box solution that can characterize high-power devices from the sub-picoamp level up to 10 kV and 1,500 A. The B1505A does the following:

• evaluates novel devices such as IGBT and materials such as GaN and SiC

• supports a variety of source and measurement units (SMUs), including highvoltage and high-current SMUs and ultrahigh-current and -voltage modules

B1506A power device analyzer for circuit design

The Keysight B1506A is a complete solution that tests the efficiency, safety, and reliability of automotive electrical systems. It covers a wide range of currents and voltages, from sub-nA to 1,500 A and microvolts to 3 kV. This range supports the evaluation of most automotive electronic components and devices. The B1506A offers the following features:

• automatic IV / CV test

• automatic thermal test

• CV (Ciss, Crss, Coss, Cgs, Cds, Cgd) up to 3 kV

• power loss calculation