Four quadrants: source or sink operation with arbitrary polarity
With its four-quadrant architecture, the R&S NGU401/NGU411 can supply positive or negative voltages or currents and can act as a source or sink in both polarities. This enables tasks such as measuring the forward and reverse characteristics of semiconductor devices in a single test operation without having to make changes to the circuit.
The power supplies automatically switch from source mode to sink mode. When the applied external voltage exceeds the set output voltage, current flows into the device. This is indicated by the opposite sign for the current measurement.