fast microsecond voltage source

[MaxXx]

Hello,

I am currently using a Keithley 2410 Sourcemeter for my lab and I use it in my experiments as a voltage source for an RPA probe. I have written a VI for it that increases the voltage from say 0-500V at 5V increment. The speed at which it is increasing the voltage is set at its fastest at 0.01*NPLC, where NPLC = number of power line cycle, and 1*NPLC = 60Hz. The problems come when there are other "disturbances" in the circuit that causes the sourcemeter to slows down, such as from the plasma. This happens more often as I increase the voltage from another power supply that controls the plasma and every time it does, there seems to be a pause/hiccup from the sourcemeter. Are there any other power supplies or voltage sources that can provide a faster increase than 0.01*NPLC?

Thanks

[GarPar]

Hi MaxXx-

     I have a couple of questions to clarify what you need. 

1.  Do you absolutely need to go to 500V?  The highest we can source is 80 V by cascading our PXI-4110s.

2.  By 0.01*NPLC, do you mean 0.6 Hz (60 Hz*0.01)?  If you do mean 0.6 Hz, we should be able to easily beat that for speed of a voltage sweep.

     Let me know if 80V max is sufficient.  I am happy to help with any further questions you might have.

[cymrieg]

MaxXx,

There is an application note on the Keithley web site on how to optimise the throughput of the sourcemeter:

http://www.keithley.com/data?asset=11641

The nplc has to do with the reading measurment time - do you need to measure or just source?

[Mark_E]

National Instruments actually has an SMU that can source/sink 100V on a single channel.

http://www.ni.com/powersupplies/