$RLC$ Bridge Based on an Automated Synchronous Sampling System

An RLC bridge based on an automated synchronous sampling system has been developed using commercially available high-resolution analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters. This bridge allows the comparison of any kind of impedance standards in the four-terminal-pair configuration at frequencies between 50 Hz and 20 kHz within a range from 1 Ω to 100 kΩ. An automatic balance of the bridge is carried out using a downhill simplex algorithm. Consistency checks have been realized by comparing resistance, inductance, and capacitance standards at different frequencies. The consistency of the measured voltage ratio is better than 20 μV/V over the whole frequency range and even smaller than 5 μV/V around 1 kHz. Finally, the results of the calibration of a 10-nF capacitance standard have been compared to those obtained using a commercial high-accuracy capacitance bridge. The difference is smaller than the commercial bridge specifications over the whole frequency range.