Technical Capabilities:

Electrical Measurements

CDS has a comprehensive electrical measurement facility for dielectric materials. Routine automated, multi-sample dielectric tests are carried out at temperatures from that of liquid nitrogen to 200˚C and for frequencies from 100 Hz to 10 MHz. CDS personnel have written custom data analysis programs to extract dielectric properties from the electrical test data.

Specialized microwave and RF spectrum analyzers available to CDS can measure up to 26 GHz, while a low frequency FFT dielectric spectrometer is capable of measuring to 1.0 mHz. Multi-sample dielectric reliability tests are set up for computer-automated data collection. CDS personnel also designed high-temperature dielectric measuring equipment that operates at temperatures up to 1500K and cryogenic systems down to 10K. A home-built system for quantification of current discharge has been developed to access the energy storage capabilities of materials and multilayer devices.

Other electrical properties can be measured in our laboratory, including pyroelectric current, polarization, hysteresis, piezoelectric coefficients, and electrostrictive strain. We are in the process of expanding our electrical characterization facilities, with conductivity measurements at low loss, new HALT tests, and admittance spectroscopy.