
168 Electrical impedance: principles, measurement, and applications
(10 mHz range) symmetric voltage square wave. When testing insulators, ap-
plied voltage in the kV range is typical.
6.1.1.4 Four-point probe
The sample is a thin sheet or film of uniform thickness t. The fixture provides
four contact points (for example, four spring-loaded metal tips) placed at equal
distances s on a straight line, as shown in Fig. 6.4.
sss
t
IV
VI
Figure 6.4
Four-point probe method, with metal tips at distance s on a material of thick-
ness t.
For an infinite and thin (t s) sheet, the surface resistivity ρ
S
can be
calculated from the measured resistance R
S
as
ρ
S
=
π
log(2)
R
S
(6.2) ...