Materials for Sensors and Electronics Laboratory Reports

A laboratory report has to fulfill the following three main functions:

- To provide a record of the experiments and raw data included in the report,
- To provide sufficient information to reproduce or extend the data, and
- To analyze the data, present conclusions and make recommendations based on the experimental
work.

Lab Report Structure:

1. Cover Sheet

This page must include the title of the experiment, your name, your lab partner’s names, the
date when the lab was performed.

2. Abstract

The purpose of an abstract in a scientific paper is to help a reader decide if your paper is of
interest to him/her.
The abstract should be able to stand by itself, and it should be no longer than a half page. It
consists of three parts:
- A statement of the purpose of the experiment, a concise description of the experiment
and physics principles investigated.
- Highlight the most significant results of the experiment.
- Depending on the type of experiment, this is conclusions and implications of the results
or it may be lessons learned from the experiment. You can estimate also future direction
or discuss uncertainties.
Write the abstract after all the other sections are completed. (You need to know everything in
the report before you can write a summary of it.)

3. Table of Contents

The table of contents purpose is to allow the reader to easily find information. It also informs
the reader about the report’s organization.

4. Data Sheets:

Record the data cleanly in pen and make thumb sketches or notes of important events. If there
is a mistake, then draw a single line through that value.
The values that you record on your data sheet must have:
- Units (such as A for current)
- Reasonable uncertainty estimates for given instruments and procedures
- Precision consistent with uncertainty (proper significant digits)
- Propagation of error for calculated quantities
- Your lab instructor’s initials.

5. Sample Calculations

Show calculations in a neat and orderly outline form. Include a brief description of the
calculation, the equation, numbers from your data substituted into the equation and the result.
For calculations repeated many times, you only include one sample calculation. Answers should
have the proper number of significant figures and units.
6. Graphs

You must follow the guidelines in the lab manual for all graphs (e.g. logarithmic graphs).
Remember that when plotting data with units, both the slope and intercept of a graph also have
units. Use dot graphs for drawing the measure/calculated values. Line plots are for regression
lines.

7. Discussion of Results

This is the most important part of the lab report; it is where you analyze the data. You can begin
the discussion with the experimental purpose and briefly summarize the basic idea of the
experiment with emphasis on the measurements you made and transition to discussing the
results. State only the key results (with uncertainty and units) quantitatively with numerical
values. It is not necessary to write all instructions from the lab manual again, if the reader want
to completely reproduce the experiment he can read the lab manual in addition.
Your discussion should address questions such as:
- What is the relationship between your measurements and your final results?
- What trends were observable?
- What can you conclude from the graphs that you made?
- How did the independent variables affect the dependent variables? (For example, did
an increase in a given measured (independent) variable result in an increase or decrease
in the associated calculated (dependent) variable?)
Then describe how your experimental results substantiate/agree with the theory. (This is not a
single statement that your results agree or disagree with theory). When comparison values are
available, discuss the agreement using either uncertainty and/or percent differences. This leads
into the discussion of the sources of error.

8. References
As compulsory for all scientific work everything which is taken from other sources must be
properly signed. Please follow one of the common guidelines precisely (e.g. the IEEE
Documentation Style [1] or the AIP citation style)

The report should not be a big production. It should not take many days to write. The objective is to write
down the significant details of the experiment, the analysis of the experimental data. A few neatly written
pages, including your data sheets will suffice for the experiments. Hopefully the sample lab report that
follows will help you.

Note:
1. No student should copy data from anyone who is not his or her lab partner.
2. You may discuss the experiment with other classmates, but the
lab report that you and your lab partner turn in must be your own work.
3. Photocopies of any parts of the lab report are not permissible.

References
[1] IEEE, "How to Cite References: IEEE Documentation Style," [Online]. Available:
https://ieee-dataport.org/sites/default/files/analysis/27/IEEE%20Citation%20Guidelines.pdf.
[Accessed: May 17, 2019].
 Materials for Sensors and Electronics

Laboratory Report Example

Experiment 1: Dielectric Hysteresis

Date of Experiment: 08.05.2019

Lab Instructor: David Smykalla

Submitted by: Pavel Andreievich Chekov (Mat.: 656582)

James Tiberius Kirk (Mat.: 937017)
1. Abstract
The tasks of this experiment were on the one hand to learn the functionality of the Sawyer-Tower circuit
as a measurement instrument and on the other hand to measure the D(E) curves of a Kryptonite crystal
as a function of temperature from room temperature up to the Curie temperature.
To evaluate the functionality of the Sawyer-Tower circuit it was firstly to check the D(E) curves for a
reference resistor, a reference capacitor and for a RC-circuit (serial and parallel). To determine the values
of the coercive field strength as well as the spontaneous polarization of the Kryptonite sample, the D(E)
curves as a function of temperature were to measure within two runs, one heating run and one cooling
run.
The diagram of electric coercivity over temperature show a linear decrease and the spontaneous
polarisation decreases slowly at beginning and dropped rapidly to zero close to the curie temperature at
Tc = 49.4 °C. Compared to theory and within the high measure error of the oscilloscope the Kryptonite
sample has a first order phase transition.

2. Table of Contents
0. Title Page..................................................................................1
1. Abstract ....................................................................................2
2. Table of Contents .....................................................................2
3. Lab Data Sheets .......................................................................3
4. Sample Calculations..................................................................5
5. Graphs and Results...................................................................7
6. Discussions and Conclusions...................................................9
7. References................................................................................10
8. Appendices...............................................................................11
4. Sample Calculations
The geometrical and physical dimensions of our samples.

Blue RC Box No.1

Sample: Kryptonite crystal No. E

Sample thickness d = 1,08 mm
Sample area A = 30,45 mm²
Reference capacity Cr = 0,01 μF

4.1 Calculation of the unknown R and C values (blue test box)

Resistance R instead of the Sample

𝑈𝑈𝑥𝑥𝑥𝑥 1
𝑅𝑅 = 𝑈𝑈𝑦𝑦𝑦𝑦 𝜔𝜔𝜔𝜔𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟

24,1mV 1
𝑅𝑅 = 163mV 2𝜋𝜋∙40Hz∙10𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛

𝑅𝑅 = 70,5kΩ

Capacity C instead of the Sample

𝑈𝑈
𝐶𝐶 = 𝑈𝑈 𝑥𝑥𝑥𝑥 ∙ 𝐶𝐶𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟
𝑥𝑥𝑥𝑥

27,2 mV
𝐶𝐶 = 24,9 mV ∙ 10 nF

𝐶𝐶 = 10,9 nF

RC Circuit Instead of the Sample (parallel)

𝑈𝑈𝑥𝑥𝑥𝑥 1
𝑅𝑅 = ∙ 𝜔𝜔𝜔𝜔
𝑈𝑈𝑦𝑦𝑦𝑦 𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟

24,4 mV 1
𝑅𝑅 = 63,8 mV ∙ 2𝜋𝜋∙40 Hz∙10 nF

𝑅𝑅 = 150 kΩ

𝑈𝑈𝑥𝑥𝑥𝑥
𝐶𝐶 = ∙ 𝐶𝐶
𝑈𝑈𝑥𝑥𝑥𝑥 𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟
57,7 mV
𝐶𝐶 = 24,4 mV ∙ 10 nF

𝐶𝐶 = 23,6 nF
RC Circuit Instead of the Sample (R serial to C)

𝑈𝑈𝑥𝑥𝑥𝑥 1
𝑅𝑅 =
𝑈𝑈𝑦𝑦𝑦𝑦 𝜔𝜔𝜔𝜔𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟

24,4mV 1
𝑅𝑅 = 63,8mV 2𝜋𝜋∙40Hz∙10𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛

𝑅𝑅 = 150kΩ

𝑈𝑈𝑥𝑥𝑥𝑥
𝐶𝐶 = 𝐶𝐶
𝑈𝑈𝑥𝑥𝑥𝑥 𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟
57,7mV
𝐶𝐶 = 24,4mV 10nF

𝐶𝐶 = 23,6 nF

The following equations were used to calculate the values for coercive field strength Ec and the remanent
polarisation Pr.

𝑼𝑼𝒙𝒙
𝑬𝑬𝑪𝑪 = 𝒅𝒅
(1)

𝑼𝑼𝒚𝒚
𝑷𝑷𝑺𝑺 = 𝑪𝑪𝒓𝒓𝒓𝒓𝒓𝒓 𝑨𝑨
(2)

For the error calculation we got the error from the manual of the Hamag MH 1005 oscilloscope and
the Voltcraft VC 130 voltmeter. The error for the oscilloscope is ±5 % and a reading error of 0.1 V.
The voltmeter has an error of ±(0,5 % + 0,08 V) at 20 V range.

The table with values for Ec, Pr and Pr2 over the temperature during the heating and cooling process are
at the attachments.
5. Graphs and Results
Ec, Pr and Pr2 versus temperature for heating and cooling with linear regression lines

40

35

30
y = -1,76x+87,3
25
EC [V/mm]

20

15

10

-5
28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52
T [°C]

Figure 1: Electric field strength versus temperature (heating [] and cooling +)

 0,014

0,012

0,010

0,008
Pr [nC/mm²]

0,006

0,004

0,002

0,000

-0,002
28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52
T [°C]

Figure 2: Remanent polarisation versus temperature (heating [] and cooling +)

1,8E-04

1,6E-04

1,4E-04

1,2E-04
Pr2 [(nC/mm²)²]

1,0E-04

8,0E-05

6,0E-05

4,0E-05

2,0E-05

0,0E+00

-2,0E-05
28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52

T [°C]

Figure 3: Squared remanent polarisation versus temperature (heating [] and cooling +)

6. Discussions and Conclusions
The great majority of crystals can exist in several crystalline phases and Krptonite is one of that
crystals with a face-centered orthorhombic unit cell. Such phases appear to be stable in a certain
range of temperatures and pressures and the transition from one phase to another is conducted
by discontinuous changes in the volume and entropy of the crystal. In the experiment we
measured the hysteresis curves for increasing and decreasing temperature. We observed a
hysteresis curve at room temperature. With increasing temperature, the hysteresis curve starts
to disappear and close to the curie Temperature we could observe a double hysteresis at around
49°C. After the temperature reaches the curie temperature of Tc1=49,4 °C the double hysteresis
changes into a straight line and we start with cooling. The hysteresis curve appears again at a
lower temperature Tc2=48,8. From the measured cutting points with x- and y-axis at the analog
oscilloscope we calculated the Ec and Ps values for each heating/cooling step and plotted the
graphs.
The electric coercivity versus temperature graph (fig.1) shows a linear behaviour for heating
and cooling cycle. The Curie Temperature for heating is at Tc1 = 49,4 °C and for cooling at
Tc2 = 48,8 °C. The cooling and heating curves have the same regression lines before/after
reaching the Curie Temperature.
𝑉𝑉 1 𝑉𝑉
𝐸𝐸(𝑇𝑇) = −1,76 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 ∙ 𝑇𝑇 °𝐶𝐶 + 87,3 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 (3)
At the remanent polarisation versus temperature and the Squared remanent polarisation versus
temperature graphs (fig. 2 and 3) we can see no linear behaviour. Between 40 and 48 °C the
cooling values are lower but maybe because we cooled the sample a bit too fast after we
switched from 0,2 °C/min to 1 °C/min cooling ratio.
We observed the ferroelectric behaviour below the Curie Temperature and above where the
ferroelectric phase converts into a paraelectric phase which always has higher symmetry than
the ferroelectric phase and ferroelectricity disappears. The paraelectric state is predominantly a
centrosymmetric higher symmetry state where dipoles are randomly oriented in a crystal giving
rise to zero polarization [1]. The two different Curie Temperatures for heating and cooling and
the nonlinear behaviour are a clear evidence that Kryptonite has a first order phase transition.
This means that free energy vs polarization plot has three equal minima, one for P = 0 and the
other two for P ≠ 0 at the same temperature i.e. at the same value of ‘a’ at a temperature T = T0,
Curie temperature, which is now more than T0, see fig. 4.

Figure 4: Free energy vs polarization schematic plot for a first order phase transition (red T>Tc, green T=Tc,
T=T0<Tc) [lecture handout B.Ploss page 98]
An important result of this phase transition is that polarization drops from P ≠ 0 to zero
discontinuously at T = Tc and we can see this in our measured graphs (fig. 1-3). To compute the
non-zero polarization (P0) at the transition, the value of free energy for P = 0 and P = P0 must
be equal at T = Tc [2]
1 1
𝑔𝑔(0) = 2 𝑎𝑎 𝑃𝑃2 + 4 𝑏𝑏 𝑃𝑃4 + 𝑐𝑐 𝑃𝑃6 = 0 (4)
second, the field E must also be zero for the polarization to be spontaneous
𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
= 𝐸𝐸 = 𝑎𝑎 𝑃𝑃 + 𝑏𝑏 𝑃𝑃3 + 𝑐𝑐 𝑃𝑃5 . (5)
The polarization at Tc are obtained by solving two equations and are given as
3𝑏𝑏
𝑃𝑃02 (𝑇𝑇𝐶𝐶 ) = − 4𝑐𝑐 . (6)
The Kryptonite is in other of the two non-zero polarization states if is heated from an initial
temperature that is lower than Tc whereas, if it is cooled from a temperature higher than Tc, the
sample will be in paraelectric state. This results in thermal hysteresis when these materials are
thermally cycled across Tc [1].
We used for the experiment an analog oscilloscope with an uncertainty of 5 % and in addition
it was difficult to read the values sometimes because there was some noise on the scope. The
temperature measurement should have an error of ΔT = ±0,1 °C. But sometimes it takes more
than 10sec to measure the Ux und Uy value at the scope. With a heating ratio of 1 °C/min we
get an additional error of ΔT = ±0,2 °C or ΔT = ±0,04 °C for 0,2 °C/min. The conclusion is that
the main error for temperature measurement is the time to read the values for high
heating/cooling ratios. To get more accuracy in the temperature it would be useful to measure
all with a ratio of 0,2 °C/min. But the highest error is the 5% from the scope which can be
determined by using a better scope, maybe a digital oscilloscope and to save all the values with
a data logger.

7. References

[1] M. E. Lines and A. M. Glass, Principles and Applications of Ferroelectrics and Related Materials.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2009.

[2] B.Ploss, SciTec.2.223. Class Lecture, Topic: "Materials for Sensors and Electronics." Ernst-Abbe-
Hochschule Jena, Germany, Summer Semester 2019.
8. Appendices:

T / °C Ux / V Uy / V E / V/mm PS / nC/mm² Ps2 / (nC/mm²)²) dE / V/mm dP / nC/mm²

29,0 39,3 3,9 36,4 0,0128 1,63E-04 1,90 0,0067
30,0 38,3 3,9 35,4 0,0128 1,63E-04 1,90 0,0067
31,0 36,6 3,8 33,9 0,0124 1,55E-04 1,80 0,0065
32,0 34,0 3,8 31,5 0,0124 1,55E-04 1,70 0,0065
33,0 31,4 3,8 29,0 0,0124 1,55E-04 1,50 0,0065
34,0 29,2 3,7 27,0 0,0121 1,47E-04 1,40 0,0064
35,0 27,9 3,7 25,9 0,0121 1,47E-04 1,40 0,0064
36,0 25,5 3,6 23,6 0,0118 1,39E-04 1,30 0,0062
37,0 24,5 3,6 22,7 0,0118 1,39E-04 1,20 0,0062
38,0 22,0 3,5 20,4 0,0115 1,31E-04 1,10 0,0061
39,0 20,6 3,4 19,1 0,0111 1,24E-04 1,00 0,0059
40,0 18,7 3,3 17,3 0,0108 1,17E-04 0,96 0,0057
41,0 16,2 3,1 15,0 0,0102 1,03E-04 0,84 0,0054
42,0 14,4 3,0 13,3 0,00982 9,65E-05 0,76 0,0052
43,0 12,6 2,9 11,7 0,0095 9,02E-05 0,68 0,0051
44,0 11,7 2,8 10,8 0,00917 8,41E-05 0,63 0,0049
45,0 9,2 2,5 8,5 0,00819 6,70E-05 0,52 0,0044
46,0 7,6 2,3 7,0 0,00753 5,67E-05 0,44 0,0041
47,0 5,4 2,2 5,0 0,0072 5,19E-05 0,34 0,0039
47,2 4,7 2,1 4,4 0,00688 4,73E-05 0,31 0,0038
47,4 4,1 2,0 3,8 0,00655 4,29E-05 0,28 0,0036
47,6 3,7 1,9 3,4 0,00622 3,87E-05 0,26 0,0034
47,8 3,3 1,8 3,1 0,00589 3,47E-05 0,25 0,0033
48,0 3,0 1,8 2,8 0,00589 3,47E-05 0,23 0,0033
48,2 2,3 1,7 2,1 0,00557 3,10E-05 0,20 0,0031
48,4 2,1 1,7 1,9 0,00557 3,10E-05 0,19 0,0031
48,6 1,8 1,6 1,7 0,00524 2,74E-05 0,18 0,0029
48,8 1,5 1,4 1,4 0,00458 2,10E-05 0,16 0,0026
49,0 1,1 1,3 1,0 0,00426 1,81E-05 0,14 0,0025
49,2 0,4 1,0 0,4 0,00327 1,07E-05 0,11 0,002
49,4 0,0 0,0 0,0 0 0 0,09 3,30E-04
49,6 0,0 0,0 0,0 0 0 0,09 3,30E-04
49,8 0,0 0,0 0,0 0 0 0,09 3,30E-04
49,6 0,0 0,0 0,0 0 0 0,09 3,30E-04
49,4 0,0 0,0 0,0 0 0 0,09 3,30E-04
49,2 0,0 0,0 0,0 0 0 0,09 3,30E-04
49,0 0,0 0,0 0,0 0 0 0,09 3,30E-04
48,8 0,0 0,0 0,0 0 0 0,09 3,30E-04
48,6 0,0 0,0 0,0 0 0 0,09 3,30E-04
48,4 0,0 0,0 0,0 0 0 0,09 3,30E-04
48,2 0,0 0,0 0,0 0 0 0,09 3,30E-04
48,0 2,3 1,8 2,1 0,00589 3,47E-05 0,20 0,0033
47,8 2,8 1,9 2,6 0,00622 3,87E-05 0,22 0,0034
47,6 3,4 1,9 3,1 0,00622 3,87E-05 0,25 0,0034
47,4 3,9 2,0 3,6 0,00655 4,29E-05 0,27 0,0036
47,2 4,6 2,1 4,3 0,00688 4,73E-05 0,31 0,0038
47,0 5,1 2,1 4,7 0,00688 4,73E-05 0,33 0,0038
46,0 7,0 2,2 6,5 0,0072 5,19E-05 0,42 0,0039
45,0 9,8 2,3 9,1 0,00753 5,67E-05 0,55 0,0041
44,0 10,6 2,5 9,8 0,00819 6,70E-05 0,58 0,0044
43,0 13,3 2,6 12,3 0,00851 7,25E-05 0,71 0,0046
42,0 14,5 2,8 13,4 0,00917 8,41E-05 0,76 0,0049
41,0 16,4 3,0 15,2 0,00982 9,65E-05 0,85 0,0052
40,0 18,5 3,1 17,1 0,0102 1,03E-04 0,95 0,0054
39,0 19,6 3,3 18,1 0,0108 1,17E-04 1,00 0,0057
38,0 21,7 3,5 20,1 0,0115 1,31E-04 1,10 0,0061
37,0 24,0 3,5 22,2 0,0115 1,31E-04 1,20 0,0061
36,0 24,9 3,5 23,0 0,0115 1,31E-04 1,20 0,0061
35,0 27,5 3,7 25,5 0,0121 1,47E-04 1,40 0,0064
34,0 29,0 3,8 26,9 0,0124 1,55E-04 1,40 0,0065
33,0 30,5 3,8 28,2 0,0124 1,55E-04 1,50 0,0065