Low cost high performance microcontroller based semiconductor device tester

Abstract

This paper deals with design and implementation of a versatile tester system for diode, bipolar junction transistor (BJT), and junction field effect transistor (JFET). The basic building blocks for this tester design include PIC 18F452 microcontroller, analog multiplexer/demultiplexer 74HC4052, and Liquid Crystal Display (LCD). The tester system discussed in this paper provide accurate identification of semiconductor device under test (Diode, BJT, JFET), types of bipolar transistor (NPN, PNP), types of junction field effect transistor (N channel JFET, P channel JFET). The proposed system also detects leads of diode, bipolar junction transistor (BJT), and junction field effect transistor (JFET). Apart from this the tester also measures various parameters of above mentioned semiconductor devices such as forward voltage (VF) and forward current (IF) for diode, current gain (HFE) for BJT, saturation current with the gate shorted to the source (IDSS) for JFET. All measurement and test results are clearly represented on LCD. Low power consumption, simple hardware, user friendly design and compact size are salient features of this semiconductor device tester.