Getting Started : "Fast CW measurements"

Fast CW measurement is a way to perform measurements faster than regular power and frequency sweeps as the VNA is controlling both in one sweep.

Note: This measurement is only available on Keysight VNA.

This type of measurement has also the benefit to be faster than CW and so can lead to less stress applied to the DUT. In case of high self-heating behaviors, it can be more favourable to perform Fast CW instead of regular sweeps.

DANGER: During the sweep, no measurement conditions will be checked, so the operator needs to know very well the device maximum ratings.

Once initialized and Fast CW is selected, make sure that the IV devices settings are well set and that the correct DC Measurements is set.

In order for a multimeter / power supply to support fast measurement, it has to have a trigger input as well as a burst capability, meaning that the recorded measurement can be stored in its internal buffer while the sweep is active.

CW mode in Fast CW sweep:

In this configuration, all the devices that needs to perform measurements other than the VNA needs to be triggered. The trigger signal comes from the VNA auxiliary trigger 1 (Aux Trig. 1 Out).

CAUTION: If too many multimeters, power meters... are used and triggered with the same signal, the triggering signal level can be affected and may require a boost to properly trigger the devices. For this purpose, AMCAD proposes the AT101 trigger box (more details here).

Pulsed mode in Fast CW sweep:

In this configuration, all the devices must be triggered by a precise combination of the pulse trigger (Pulse IO port 3 or 4) and the auxiliary trigger (Aux trig. 1 Out). For this purpose, AMCAD proposes the AT101 trigger box (more details here). The goal of this box is to simplify and speed up your pulsed measurements.

When using a trigger box, the setup option "Use trigger in Fast CW" must be checked: