Any good books on designing test equipment?

[seang]

Hi, I am trying to design a few low power (I ~ nanoamps, V ~ volts) test devices. I can't seem to find books on test equipment design anyplace. Anyone got a favorite text or anything?


Sean

 

[f95toli]

"Art of Electronics"?
I am not sure what you mean by "test equipment"? Low noise electronics?

 

[berkeman]

The AoE has some basic info about low-noise and high-Z amps, but not much.
It does cover the basics of FET amps, bootstrapping, etc., so it's not a bad place to start, but you'll need a bit more to design practical test devices.

Is this for medical-type test equipment? If so, there are additional considerations for safety. See UL544:

http://ulstandardsinfonet.ul.com/scopes/scopes.asp?fn=0544.html

Can you say what kind of equipment you want to design? Is this for personal use, or will it be a product that you will qualify for sale to the public?

 

[seang]

It's not for medical use; it's somewhere between personal use and a school project (college).

I have AoE, but as you said...there's not a lot of stuff in there that's specific to my needs. Is there really not a definitive test equipment text (oscilloscopes, meters, etc.)? I almost find that hard to believe.

Again, I'm trying to design a system to detect and measure low currents (in the nanoamp range). I'd rather not accept too much outside help, so pointing me towards resources rather than telling me how to do it would be nice.

Thanks a lot.

 

[berkeman]

Again, I'm trying to design a system to detect and measure low currents (in the nanoamp range). I'd rather not accept too much outside help, so pointing me towards resources rather than telling me how to do it would be nice.

I googled "low noise" "high impedance" amplifier, and got some good hits. Many are application notes from the big analog IC manufacturers, which should be very practical in their treatment of the design of these circuits. Here's the hit list as a starting point:

http://www.google.com/search?source...h+impedance"+amplifier&btnG=Search&nochrome=1

I'd be interested in hearing back if you found some especially good app notes in the list.

 

[misgfool]

Again, I'm trying to design a system to detect and measure low currents (in the nanoamp range). I'd rather not accept too much outside help, so pointing me towards resources rather than telling me how to do it would be nice.

Thanks a lot.

I think what you might be looking for is a simple electrometer. Integrator with a good opamp, an ok cap, a voltage meter and a triggering source should do the trick.