Measuring Leakage Current in Power Transistors

Measuring Leakage Current in Power Transistors

Engineering

Lewis Hillyard

2024

This project sought to produce a small and easy to assemble current sensor for the purpose of measuring leakage current in power MOSFETs. This current can often be in the range of nanoamps and so requires a circuit to amplify the output of any sensor. The final design involved the use of a shunt resistor as well as a operational amplifier circuit to amplify the voltage across the shunt resistor. This amplified voltage was then measured by an Arduino microprocessor to be recorded. Although the design was largely functional on paper it would have restricted range as the amplifier was unable to effectively amplify currents in the high nanoamps. Additionally the protype device was damaged during testing due to a fault so further testing was not able to take place. Despite this the design is simple, inexpensive, and can be constructed from a small number of readily available components if there is access to PCB manufacturing equipment.

Electronics, Engineering