Discover Your Next Research Breakthrough in Advanced Materials

Keysight Solutions for Academic Researchers

Your research is crucial for the discovery of new sciences, new solutions for real-world problems, and innovation that accelerates technological breakthroughs. As you perform iterative characterization, simulation, and measurement to confirm your hypotheses, confidence in every measurement is paramount.

Keysight Technologies advances research by professors around the globe through close university-industry collaboration and industry-leading hardware instrumentation for highly accurate and reliable measurements. Researchers of radio frequency (RF) / microwave and high-speed digital circuit designs can also speed development and reduce costly prototyping errors through simulation with Keysight’s leading electronic design automation (EDA) software.

No matter what breakthrough you are working on next, you can count on Keysight’s wide range of robust test solutions and technical support expertise.

This brochure covers Keysight solutions for research in advanced materials science and engineering. Keysight also offers solutions for:

• RF, microwave, mmWave and Terahertz device characterization
• Key industry verticals such as 5G, biomedical sciences, energy, optical and photonics, and quantum engineering
• Advanced Materials Science and Engineering

Every material is unique in its electrical, optical, and mechanical properties. Materials include substrates in electronics; radar-absorbing materials (RAM) in aerospace and defense; and solar cells and batteries in automotive and energy. Other examples are liquid crystal displays and superconductors in industrial materials; food and other organic materials in food, agriculture, forestry, and mining; and bio-implants and human tissue in pharmaceuticals and healthcare.

Accurate characterization of material properties is crucial to providing researchers with valuable information that can help create next-generation technologies and products. Through advanced materials research, the discovery of materials like semiconductors, metals, polymers, ceramics, and compound semiconductors has accelerated innovation over the last century. Years of research conducted worldwide show how modifying these materials has led to the discovery of new and emerging materials with promising industrial benefits. Examples include carbon nanotubes, graphene, silicon carbide (SiC), and gallium nitride (GaN).

Keysight offers a broad range of solutions to meet the most demanding needs in advanced materials research. Our solutions include test methods and recommendations, instruments, fixtures, and software to help you efficiently and effectively characterize electrical and electromagnetic (EM) properties of your material under test.

Electromagnetic properties measurement solutions

Keysight offers a wide range of solutions to help you with highly accurate EM characterization of materials across a broad frequency range, from 20 Hz to the low terahertz.

N1500 Materials Measurement Suite software

Keysight’s N1500 Materials Measurements Suite software automates complex permittivity and permeability measurements. In one simple installation, the software is set for seven measurement methods: transmission line, free space, arch reflectivity, resonant cavity, coaxial probe, parallel plate, and inductance.

Fixtures, probes, and resonators

The N1501A dielectric probe kit is suitable for permittivity measurement of “lossy” liquid, powder, and semi-solid materials with a Keysight VNA or impedance analyzer at frequencies of 10 MHz to 50 GHz. The kit equips researchers with a flexible choice of high-quality probes.

The 85072A 10 GHz split-cylinder resonator can perform highly sensitive permittivity measurements at discrete frequencies with a Keysight VNA. The resonant cavity method is most suitable for low-loss materials. More resonator options are available from Keysight solution partners for measurements at microwave frequencies.

Various test fixtures are available for permittivity measurements of liquid or thin, flat sheets at lower frequencies: 16452A liquid material test fixture, 16451B dielectric material test fixture, and 16453A dielectric material test fixture.

The 16454A magnetic material test fixture works with a Keysight impedance analyzer to measure the permeability of toroidal core structures.

Electrical measurement solutions

Measurement accuracy at ultra-low signal levels is a primary requirement in the research and characterization of sensitive materials. High measurement resolution helps detect the slightest change in material behavior with respect to time, voltage, or temperature. Keysight offers a wide range of solutions to help with your advanced materials research. Our solutions fulfill most or all common test requirements, such as high accuracy, fast sampling speeds, and the capability to source both voltage and current over a broad range.

Source/measure units (SMU)

B2900A Series precision SMUs with EasyEXPERT group+ are entry-level analyzers that feature current resolution down to 10 fA, wide voltage / current ranges up to 210 V, and 3 A DC / 10.5 A pulse. You can combine multiple SMUs, up to eight channels. EasyEXPERT group+ software on PC simplifies measurement and analysis.

E5270B and E5260/62/63A precision IV analyzers with EasyEXPERT group+ are high-performance analyzers that feature a current measurement capability as low as 0.1 fA and voltage as low as 0.5 μV. SMU scalability is available for advanced IV characterization. EasyEXPERT group+ software on PC simplifies measurement and analysis.

Advanced device analyzers

Keysight’s B1500A and B1505A are flexible, all-in-one advanced device analyzers with 15-inch touch screens. With configurable modules of up to 10 slots, the analyzers are easily scalable to your needs. The built-in Keysight EasyEXPERT group+ graphical user interface (GUI)-based software simplifies complex device characterization instantly with hundreds of built-in, ready-to-use application tests. With the analyzers’ built-in storage, you can efficiently carry out repeated device characterization and export measurement data for reporting and further analysis.

The B1500A semiconductor device parameter analyzer is your complete semiconductor device characterization system. It supports IV, CV, QS-CV, pulse / dynamic IV, and all-around characterization from basic to cutting-edge applications.

The B1505A power device analyzer / curve tracer is your one-box solution for power device evaluation with broad measurement ranges from sub-pA to 10 kV/1500 A. Its capabilities allow the evaluation of novel devices such as insulated-gate bipolar transistor and wide-bandgap materials like GaN and SiC.

Oscilloscopes / analyzers / meters

We built Keysight InfiniiVision oscilloscopes around our patented technology to give you the fastest waveform update rates — an important specification to help you capture infrequent glitches in your design. When used with the N2820A high-sensitivity current probe, it lets you capture current as low as 50 μA. This capability makes the oscilloscope ideal for sensitive low-current applications such as time of flight and pulsed IV measurements.