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Excellence in Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy • Impedance Spectroscopy • Conductivity Spectroscopy

Single-Unit Dielectric Analyzers Alpha and Beta

Alpha-N
Alpha Single-Unit Dielectric Analyzer
Beta
Beta Single-Unit Dielectric Analyzer

Dielectric Analyzers for Dielectric, Conductivity and Impedance Spectroscopy and Gain Phase Measurements

The Alpha analyzer features high quality general purpose dielectric, conductivity, impedance 2 electrode spectroscopy and gain phase measurements.

The Beta analyzer has the same functionality, but supports 3 and 4 electrode configurations in addition.

Both analyzers combine a high class precision broadband dielectric material characterization system with a typical impedance analyzer for the low and middle impedance range. This combination makes them unique and easy to use instruments with exceptional overall performance.

The Beta and Alpha analyzers cover 16 orders of magnitude impedance range, 13 orders of magnitude frequency range and 1m° basic phase accuracy in a single instrument. This combination makes them powerful tools for electric analysis instrumentation. As a result, the analyzers can measure the permittivity, conductivity and impedance of nearly all materials or components broadband and over a wide temperature range without changing sample geometry or sample cells.

3 or 4 electrode techniques can be advantageously used in order to partly compensate electrode - sample interface polarization or contact impedance effects.
The Beta analyzer voltage channel input impedance is 1012| 10 pF which exceeds the range of most competing instruments by several orders of magnitude and therefore can be seen as a major improvement in broadband 3 and 4 electrode measurements.

The Beta and Alpha analyzers are predecessors and  economical alternatives to the more powerful and flexible modular Alpha-A series, which can be extended by a series of test interfaces, which is not possible for the Beta and Alpha series. A more detailed comparison of the three series can be found here.

Features

Alpha + Beta Short Specification

Ranges
Frequency 3 μHz ... 40 MHz (13.1 decades)
Impedance 0.01 Ω .. 1014 Ω (16 decades)  
Capacitance 1 fF ... 1 F (15 decades)
Loss factor tan(δ) 10-5 .. 104
AC signal out 100 μV .. 3 Vrms
DC bias out −40 VDC .. +40 VDC, 
70 mA max **
Signal generator output impedance 50 Ω
Voltage in < ± 4.3 Vp dc or ac coupled
Differential Voltage Inputs (Beta only)
Input impedance 1012 Ω | 10 pF
Common Mode Rejection < 10-4 below 100 kHz
< 10-3 dB below 1 MHz
Input Bias Current < 2.10-12 A
Basic Accuracy
Relative Impedance,
Relative Capacity,
Loss factor tan(δ)
< 3.10-5 ***
Phase Angle < 2 m° ***
Resolution
Relative Impedance,
Relative Capacity,
Loss factor tan(δ)
< 10-5
Phase Angle < 0.6 m°
User Calibrations load, short, open, internal self calibration and diagnostics
Interface  GPIB / IEEE488  
Software   DETACHEM data acquisition software with online graphics

* in combination with the types Alpha-N, Alpha-T or Beta-N, Beta-T
** requires dc bias option B
*** for details refer to specification charts

Alpha and Beta Dielectric Analyzer Types

The following types with different frequency ranges are available.
Upper frequency limit Type Code
40 MHz Alpha-T or Beta-T
20 MHz Alpha-N or Beta-N
3 MHz Alpha-K or Beta-K
0.3 MHz Alpha-L or Beta-L

Alpha and Beta Dielectric Analyzer Options

The following mainframe options are available:
Option Additional Type Code Letter
Dc bias ±40V, 70mA B if installed, missing else

Note: The recommended types with best performance / price ratio are the Alpha-NB or Beta-NB (20 MHz with dc bias).