Operating principle of an electric current primary standard based on Ohm's law, the Josephson and the quantum Hall effects

Authors

  • Regis Landim Inmetro
  • Wesley C. S. Sousa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21014/actaimeko.v14i4.1993

Keywords:

current primary standard, Josephson voltage standard, quantum Hall system

Abstract

Ammeters in the range from nanoamperes to milliamperes are widely used in fundamental and applied metrology, industry, microelectronics, medical care, and healthcare. The calibration of these instruments needs calibration standards to provide a minimum quality process and traceability, which are essential for measurement systems. In Brazil, there is no DC current primary standard. In this ongoing work, we are developing an electric current primary standard based on Ohm’s law in the range from nanoamperes to milliamperes. Such a system, based on Ohm’s law, is one of the BIPM recommendations to realize the ampere. In this paper, we show the most important phenomena present in electric current standards based on Ohm’s law, obtained through the integration of a standard resistor, directly calibrated using a quantum Hall system, and a Josephson voltage standard. Additionally, this article presents the results of the software developed so far, in Python, to integrate the system’s components. Using the proposed system, we performed calibrations of a 5730A Fluke calibrator, working as a DC current source, in the range of 50 μA to 10 mA. The obtained uncertainties ranged between 0.5 μA/A and 4.6 μA/A, comparable to the best ones in the Calibration and Measurement Capabilities (CMC) acknowledged by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM).

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Published

2025-12-05

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 4 (2025)

Section

Research Papers

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Regis Landim, Wesley C. S. Sousa

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