Comment by skippyfish
7 hours ago
> The ancient curve tracers, like the widely used Tektronix 576 or 577, could do things for which you would need much more expensive SMUs than that shown in TFA.
If I'm searching right, Tektronix 576 had an MSRP of $18,000 back in 1970, or $150k in today's dollars. They were very, very expensive.
Of course you can now find them on eBay for much less, but you're buying an ancient device that's living on borrowed time, that's going to take up an unreasonable amount of space in any home lab, and that you will be hauling to the dump because it won't even be worth the shipping cost in another decade or so.
> $150k in today's dollars. They were very, very expensive.
It's very expensive for a hobbyist, but not very very expensive for a professional lab, which I think would be the target market for something like a Tektronix 576 in 1970. It's basically equivalent to buying a mid-tier 10GHz scope today Which is a normal piece of lab equipment in 2026 for a professional lab. It's not even uncommon to see them in University labs.
If a hobbyist wants an I-V curve you generate a 1Hz triangle wave of current with an dual opamp and use X-Y mode on your scope. More than good enough for the overwhelming majority of hobby applications. Unless you're writing a textbook and want fancy plots, then fine. Use an SMU. :)