Rugged Probes Operate Over Extended Temperatures

Many engineers need to verify their products’ performance over a wide range of operating temperatures. Until now, testing in extreme temperature ranges required engineers to use probes outside their specified operating temperatures, which can damage probes. Whether active or passive, most probes have a specified operating temperature range from 0 to 50C. The new probe can be operated, without damage, over a much wider range, from -40 to 85C. Engineers can operate the probe head and the supplied probing accessories inside a temperature chamber, with the probe pod and the oscilloscope located outside the temperature chamber.

For extended testing with even more extreme temperature ranges, Agilent has the N5450B InfiniiMax extreme-temperature extension cable with the InfiniiMax Series differential probing system. When used with Agilent’s N5381A differential solder-in probe head, the extension cable provides engineers with the widest temperature range, from -55 to 150 C, which is the maximum range specified for testing automotive electronics.

When accurate and repeatable current measurements inside the chamber are critical over wide temperature ranges, the two-channel N2820A and one-channel N2821A high-sensitivity current probes are the choices for precision current measurement applications. When the user-defined head that comes with the N2820A/21A is paired with these current probes, they provide the industry’s highest sensitivity current measurements among oscilloscope current probes, going all the way down to 50uA with a maximum current range of 5A, operating from -55 to 150 C.

This probing solution is available with Agilent’s 3000X, 4000X, 9000, 90000A, 90000X and 90000 Q-series oscilloscopes.