Broadband Turnkey System
Concept 80
Novocontrol Technologies
Novocontrol Technologies GmbH & Co. KG
Top-class impedance
analyzers with test
interfaces for various
applications
Reliable sample
environment for various
temperature ranges and
pressure variation
Turnkey Dielectric
and Impedance
Spectrometers
Software for instrument
control, automation, and
data analysis
Sample cells for a
large variety of
applications
Impedance Measurement Requirements
for Dielectric Measurements
• Broad frequency range
• Wide impedance range
• Small loss factors tan() = ’’ / ’ = -Zs’ / Zs’’
Sample is in first order approximation a capacitor
Capacitive impedance Z = j / (C)
Relaxation usually adds small changes in Z
DC conductivity adds parallel resistance
Concept 80
(Table not included)
Alpha-A modular measurement system
Alpha-A Impedance analyzer system highlights
• Broad frequency range 3 µHz .. 40 MHz (> 13 decades)
• Ultra wide impedance range 10-4 .. 1014 Ω (18 decades) covers range
from conductors to best isolators in a single instrument set-up
• Ultra wide capacity range 10-15 .. 1 F allows broadband measurement
of smallest capacities down to 1 fF.
• High phase accuracy (2.10-3 °) and loss factor tan(δ) absolute
accuracy (3.10-5) for low loss dielectric materials and isolators
broadband characterization.
• Supports non-linear Dielectric, Conductivity and Impedance
Spectroscopy or gain phase measurements in combination with all
test interfaces.
18
10
Measurement
examples
0.1 Ohm resistor
15 kOhm res is tor
1 TOhm res is tor
Open terminals
100 Ohm resistor
15
10 
10
10
106
102
10
-2
-3
10 
10
-6
Impedance [Ohms]
14
10
Alpha total
impedance
range
Typical results
covering 18
orders of
magnitude
dynamics
Short term inals
Polyethylene
100 GOhm res is tor
10-3 10-2
10-1
100
101
102
103
Frequency [Hz]
104
105
106
107
108
Alpha-A Impedance analyzer system highlights
• High speed measurements for online monitoring of time-dependent
processes in the 5 ms range
• Automatic self calibration and diagnosis by user compensates long
term internal drift and verifies functionality.
• Precision digital frequency response analyzer up to 40 MHz for two
channel gain phase measurements with 0.001° phase - and 10-5 in
amplitude resolution included. Operates like a broadband lock-in
amplifier with two channels, extended accuracy and frequency range.
• Optional control WinDETA software for turnkey calibration, operation,
data evaluation, 2- and 3- dimensional graphical representation
including non linear spectroscopy.
E4991A RF Material Analyzer
Frequency range:
1 MHz .. 3 GHz
Impedance range:
100 m .. 100 k
Accuracy:
0.3% of measured value (best)
Capacity range :
100 fF .. 100 nF
tan() range:
3 m .. 3 k
tan() accuracy:
3 m (best)
Phase angle range:
0 .. 360 degrees
Accuracy:
0.2 ° (best)
Dc bias voltage range:
40 V;
Accuracy
46 mV
User calibrations
Load, short, open, low loss capacitor
sample cell short and open
Sample cells:
Two electrode RF reflection cell
for temperatures from -160 .. 400 °C
Concept 80 System Constituents:
• Two impedance analyzers with sample cells:
a) Alpha-A (3 µHz to 20 MHz) with Alpha Active Sample Cell ZGS
b) E4991A RF Materials Analyzer (1 MHz to 3 GHz) with RF Dielectric
sample cell BDS 2200 (14 mm version) or BDS 2100 (7 mm version)
• RF mounting stage
• Quatro Cryosystem: -160 °C to 400 °C
• Full software package WinDETA+WinPLOT+WinTEMP+WinFIT
• Data Acquisition Unit (computer with GPIB interface, 22” LCD
monitor, printer)
Alpha-A Active Sample cell ZGS
(3 µHz .. 20 MHz; 40 MHz with Alpha-AT)
Sample cell with integrated test interface
(current-to-voltage converter/amplifier)
and optimized frequency performance.
High-performance dielectric, conductivity
or impedance measurements from 3 µHz
up to 40 MHz (with Alpha-AT only).
Rigid air-line connection from electronics
to electrodes suppresses performancelimiting cable effects at high and low
frequencies due to cable inductance and
piezo-induced charges caused by
mechanical noise.
Temperature range: -160 °C .. 400 °C
RF sample cell and extension line (1 MHz to 3 GHz)
BDS 2200 RF dielectric sample cell
RF extension line (1 MHz to 3 GHz)
High-temperature stable, low-loss precision
line with two APC-7 connectors and Pt100
temperature sensor.
Mounted between the impedance input of the
RF Analyzer and the RF sample cell for
thermal isolation.
The combination of sample cell and extension
line can be operated in the temperature range
from -160°C to 400°C.
Quatro Cryosystem: High Precision Turnkey Temperature Control
4
Range: -160°C to 400°C
Ramps: 0.01°C/min to 20 °C/min
Stability: 0.01°C
Overshooting after set point step:
typically < 0.2°C
Stabilization times typically < 8 minutes
(for 0.1°Cstability)
low nitrogen consumption due to automatic pressure-temperature
adaptation
automatic adaptation of controller parameters
vacuum-isolated cryostat and nitrogen lines
Quatro Cryosystem
A heating element builds up a specified pressure in the
liquid nitrogen dewar in order to create a highly constant
nitrogen gas flow.
Pressure and temperature in the dewar are measured by two
channels of the Quatro controller.
Heated by a gas jet, the nitrogen gas flows directly through
the sample cell which is mounted into the cryostat.
The gas and sample temperatures are measured by the two
remaining channels of the QUATRO controller.
The four channel arrangement allows stable, fast and safe
system operation in combination with low liquid nitrogen
consumption (economical mode).
The cryostat is vacuum isolated by a two- stage rotary vane
vacuum pump, providing thermal isolation by low vacuum
(< 10 µbar).
4
Quatro Cryosystem
WinDETA Control and Data Visualisation Software
WinDETA Control and Data Visualisation Software
Control and evaluation software for dielectric and impedance spectroscopy
Uniform user interface for several dielectric/ impedance analyzers and
temperature controllers nearly independent of hardware
Flexible experiment set-up: control of frequency, temperature (WinTEMP
option), ac voltage, dc bias, and time in any multi dimensional arrangement
Evaluates over 30 different electric quantities like e.g. permittivity, conductivity,
inductance, etc. from measured impedance
Graphical online display of measured data in two or three dimensional diagrams
(WinPLOT option), temperature curve and system status
Automatic calibration of hardware devices and sample cells
Ex- and imports data in several flexible ASCII formats
Curve fitting software WinFIT for equivalent circuit modelling, data
transformations like WLF, Havriliak-Negami, and time domain conversion
Supports Win2000, XP, Vista, Win7.
WinFIT Curve Fitting Software
Non linear curve fitting in the frequency domain
Special relaxation fit functions like, e.g, Havriliak Negami, Cole Cole, Cole
Davidson, Debye etc.
Automatical evaluation of a series of spectra taken at various temperatures
Separation of relaxation and conductivity contributions
Automatic creation of master plot representations
Non linear curve fitting in the temperature domain including Vogel - Fulcher and
Williams Landel Ferry (WLF) fit functions
Relaxation time and maximum relaxation frequency determination
Arrhenius activation plot related to activation energy and glass temperature
Dielectric data conversion (Fourier Transform) from frequency to time domain
Complete dielectric time domain representation including relaxation time
distribution, relaxation function, step response function, peak answer function,
time dependent dielectric constant and conductivity
Shifts, deletes and inserts data points with a single mouse click
Connects data curves being measured in different frequency ranges with different
analyzers