Help measuring SMD JFETS

comradehoser

Well-known member
I am trying to follow Chucks wisdom rebuilding the Deofol with properly sequenced J201s. But I've run out of through-hole, so now I have 20 little grains of effing rice to try to measure to find target IDSS and VP.

I thought it would be as easy as making a viable test bed and plugging it in to the venerable TC1, but nooooooo. Of course not.

The idea is simple for the test bed and seems to be working as designed--I took a block of scrap wood, cut out a little snug well for the smd, laid down some copper shielding tape with the corners in the well, and mounted the smd upside down so that the legs contact the tape that is overlapping the edge of the well. a piece of foam and a rubber band ensures proper contact and maintenance.

I have positive contact between the three legs of the smd and the soldered component legs. But the TC1 keeps returning a diode or nonfunctional component reading.

Putting a TO-72 package regular size JFET on the copper tape yields a proper reading (how valid and accurate is not really important at this point), so it seems like the TC-1 in particular has a difficult time reading JFET SMDs. Any idea on how to remedy this or any workarounds?

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Came across owlexifry and Chuck's convo https://forum.pedalpcb.com/threads/jfet-shootout.13363/reply?quote=178707

Made the "little tester" on breadboard with MMBFJ201 and a 1m resistor, 9v power supply. Getting kind of variable readings depending on angle and pressure on the JFET in the jig, and my SMDs report ranged from .053 IDSS and .536 VP to 0.133/.872 so maybe it's not so exact (?). Hopefully it's good enough to ballpark Deofol JFETS up in there.
 
i put copper tape on a sheet of acrylic and push down the transistor (not upside down) with a rubber block and it measures successfully on 9 out of 10 tries or so
 
One thing I learned just today, SMD jfets are magnetic.
If you do as @pettert suggests and built a jig on some acrylic sheeting you can hold the jfet in place with a magnet under it.

*Note, I have not verified this so YMMV. But someone on this forum has designed some PCB's of a Keen SMD tester and we're going to try the magnet trick and see if it works.
 
WEll that is a very handy trick! For soldering for sure, and also for sticking on an SMD board with leads to test. I wonder if it would screw with the readings, though.

My issue is that the TC1 can apparently read through-hole JFETS but not SMD. I don't know why. I guess I will just gut it out with the "small board" owlexifry method breadboarded. Might be more accurate, in any event.


Yup, the magnet trick works. Check this out......
 
I never tried it with my TC7 (TC1 in disguise). I've been using my Peak Atlas.

So here's a couple of choices that will make it work easier.

RullyWow's free Jfet matcher board. If I still had any I'd send you one. But it's only $7 for 3 at OshPark.

And my Nashville buddy @Audandash just whipped up this new matcher board, based on the same RG Keen schema.

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Still working out the magnet thing. I believe he said he tried measuring a 2N5457 this morning then launched across the room.
Those damn things have a life of their own I swear! I'm thinking of maybe an adhesive magnet. I've seen them on Amazon. The little round disk.
 
Yeah, I tested out the idea. The SMDs are super magnetic and will leap towards the magnet, it's true. Buuut, I tried several different types and orientations of magnets, and in each case, the SMD wanted to stand on end, unfortunately. I don't have the similar style bar magnet as you have (is it a pickup alnico?).
 
@comradehoser

Check this out.

I cut a small piece of an A2 bar magnet then stuck an SMD adapter on with some double sided tape.

Yes, the jfets are fiddly about the magnetic field but I can find the sweet spot on the magnet by putting the jfet on the adapter then sliding the adapter around on the magnet unit the legs line up correctly. Then tape the adapter on the magnet with the double sided tape.
Now the SMD JFets "jump" onto the pads correctly. Check out the video below.

I used my Peak for this pic but you can see I can easily hook it up to my Keen matcher board as well.

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