Tim Ashworth

Tim Ashworth is Principal Application Manager for Quantum Sensing and Device Characterisation at Zurich Instruments, where he focuses on helping researchers push the boundaries of precision measurement. Tim holds a PhD from the University of Manchester in nanoscale surface science, and has hands-on experience applying lock-in technology and phase-locked loops to scanning probe microscopy at the University of Basel. His career at Zurich Instruments has spanned applications management for impedance products and head of product marketing for test and measurement, building a broad foundation that now underpins his work at the frontier of quantum sensing. Tim built up over eight years' experience of worldwide application support and scientific business development before joining Zurich Instruments in 2016. If you catch Tim at a conference, ask him about navigation with quantum sensing or his vintage Swiss watches.

RF Measurement Tools Compared: VNAs and Microwave Lock-in Amplifiers

06.05.2026

VNA or Microwave Lock-In Amplifier — which tool belongs in your lab? Zurich Instruments and Rohde & Schwarz joined forces to compare both instruments side by side, revealing when each excels and why the smartest labs rely on both.

Are You Leaving Phase Information on the Table? Choosing the Right Lock-in Strategy for Your Microwave Measurement

05.03.2026

You've spent weeks optimising your microwave setup, only to find your results are noisy and your phase is drifting, and recalibration is bringing further delays. The culprit might not be your sample; it could be your choice of detection mode.

Accurate Impedance Measurements Below 1 mΩ

02.06.2025

Learn how the MFIA impedance analyzer can measure low-impedance components (below one milliohm) to an accuracy of better than 2%. This blog post present measurements of 0.5 mOhm components connected with a low-impedance test fixture to the MFIA. The results show high accuracy for AC measurements of resistance, and show that the results are re-producible after many re-seats of the DUT in the fixture. This blog post will be interesting for many users of impedance analyzers measuring low-impedance components such as shunt resistors or DC-Link capacitors.

Essential tools for Accelerated Sensor Testing

03.06.2024

Learn how advanced lock-in amplifiers can accelerate your workflow for sensor testing. This blog post explains the key aspects such as the importance of analyzing your signal before demodulation, and it then goes on to explain how lock-in amplifiers can not just provide precise and repeatable measurements of small signals buried in noise, but also how they can be used to set up feedback loops to control and stabilize your sensor. All this can be done with one instrument, and at the pre-ASIC stage to speed up your development.

Automate DLTS with the MFIA

27.05.2024

Learn how to automate Deep-level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS) measurements with the MFIA with this LabVIEW program provided by MFIA users Adrian Kaim and Katarzyna Gwozdz at the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology in Poland.

Capacitance Transients at Variable Temperature

05.10.2023

This blog post shows the ease of set-up of the MFIA to measure capacitive transients for self-build DLTS. The combination of MFIA plus third-party temperature stage brings the possibility to tune your DLTS measurement parameters to suit your sample. Home-building your DLTS system with the MFIA gives you flexibility and the freedom to choose the test signal amplitude, frequency and even the mode of stressing pulse.

Accurate Impedance Measurements Despite High Parasitic Resistance

13.07.2023

This blog post takes a look at impedance measurements in the presence of a high parasitic resistance, and shows that you can accurately measure small impedance DUTs even in the presence of a high in-series resistance such as with an unavoidable resistance in the measurement fixture, cables or sample stage. We show that thanks to the high dynamic reserve of the MFIA (and MFLI with MF-IA option), coupled with the user compensation feature, accurate impedance measurements can be taken even in the presence of a high in-series resistance such as 1 MΩ.

Faster Impedance Measurements at Low Frequency

01.03.2022

Impedance measurements at frequencies as low as 1 mHz can take a significant amount of time for a multi-point sweep. The MFIA Impedance Analyzer allows for sweeps from 1 mHz to 5 MHz, with a freely selectable number of points up to 100000. In standard mode on the MFIA, a...

Discovering the MF-IA Impedance Analyzer Option

11.02.2022

This blog post introduces the MF-IA Impedance Analyzer option, which can be added to the MFLI Lock-in Amplifier to enhance it with the same impedance analyzer and precision LCR meter functionality as the MFIA Impedance Analyzer. Adding the MF-IA option to your MFLI gives you the ability to measure the...

Impedance Characterization of Wearable Capacitive Sensors

18.08.2021

This blog post explains how the Zurich Instruments MFIA can be used to characterise wearable capacitive sensors, and introduces two recently published studies where innovative flexible wearable sensors have been developed which operate on the principle of capacitive sensing. These studies present different approaches to comfortable-to-wear sensors with sensing performance...

DLTS User Meeting 2021 – Q&A

19.07.2021

Deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) is a powerful and commonly used technique to investigate the concentration and carrier binding energy of semiconductor defects by measuring capacitance transients at different temperatures. As such, it is a critical tool for the characterization of all forms of semiconductors. As an enabler of various...

Low-Frequency DLTS of Perovskite Solar Cells

29.06.2021

Deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) is a powerful and commonly used technique to investigate the concentration and carrier binding energy of defects in semiconductors. The technique involves measuring capacitance transients at different temperatures, typically at 1 MHz. However, DLTS can also be carried out at lower frequencies such as 80...

Impedance Measurements with Small Amplitude Test Signals

03.06.2021

When taking an impedance measurement, the test signal amplitude can often be a factor that needs to be minimized to avoid unnecessarily disturbing the sample under test. This blog post presents measurements showing how even small test signals of just 500 nV can be used to take a reliable impedance...

Customized Output Data Format for Impedance Sweeps

16.04.2021

This short blog post shows you how to customize the exported data of your impedance sweeps on the MFIA and MFLI with MF-IA option. The Sweeper module of LabOne^® is an excellent tool to sweep frequency, amplitude or bias offset, and measure multiple parameters as a function of the swept parameter.

Fast Frequency Sweeps for Impedance Measurements

19.01.2021

When characterizing a device or material as a function of frequency, the resulting spectrum may change with time as the environment or material itself evolves. This time evolution can be captured by taking sequential frequency sweeps with the LabOne Sweeper module on the MFIA or the MFLI. Each sweep requires...

Compensating Cables for Accurate Impedance Measurements

19.01.2021

Measuring impedance accurately can be a challenge, especially when the device or material under test is located some distance away from the impedance analyzer at the end of cables. The phase delay and parasitic impedance of the cables can significantly reduce the accuracy of a measurement. This blog post seeks...

Inductance of an SMD Shunt Resistor

15.09.2020

The reliable and accurate measurement of current is critical to optimising any electronic system. The most commonly used method to measure current flows within a circuit is by using a low-value resistor mounted in series, and then measuring the voltage drop across this resistor. These current sensing resistors are commonly...

Impedance Analysis: Measuring Fast and Low - Q&A

23.06.2020

This blog post answers the many welcome questions from the audience during the recent webinar "Impedance analysis: measuring fast and low". This webinar covered two distinct and equally important impedance measurement challenges...

Performing DC I-V Sweeps on the MFIA

10.01.2020

Characterizing the impedance of components and materials with the MFIA is done by necessity with an AC signal. However, the MFIA and MFLI can also take DC measurements. This blog post shows how easy it is to take DC measurements, specifically I-V measurements, and highlights a few points to be...

Bioimpedance of a Muscle Contraction

22.11.2019

Impedance measurements of biological tissue are commonly used in bio-engineering and life sciences to assess the condition and composition of tissue in a non-invasive, reproducible way. In addition, bio-impedance measurements, also known as bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) or electrical impedance myography (EIM), can be used to monitor processes such as...

Reloading Data into LabOne Modules

29.08.2019

LabOne ® now supports reloading data into its modules when using the HDF5 file format. Starting from LabOne 19.05, data acquired in modules such as the Sweeper, DAQ, Scope and Spectrum Analyzer, can be reloaded into the same LabOne module. When the data is loaded into the module, it is...

What is the Basic Accuracy of an Impedance Analyzer?

29.08.2019

This blog post explains the meaning of basic accuracy when referring to impedance analyzers. The accuracy of an impedance analyzer is a critical parameter that allows the user to know how close the measured impedance will be to the true impedance of the device or sample under test. As the...

Measuring Low ESL and Low ESR of a DC-Link Capacitor

10.06.2019

This blog post describes how the MFIA (and the MFLI with the MF-IA option) can characterize the equivalent series inductance (ESL) and equivalent series resistance (ESR) of a DC-Link capacitor typically used in power inverters for electric vehicles.

Gated Data Transfer for Increased Data Sampling Rate

19.12.2018

Introduction For measurements of signals that change rapidly, for example, when measuring capacitance transients in deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS), high temporal resolution is required. In its standard operating configuration, the MFIA (or the MFLI with the MF-IA option) can sample and transfer impedance data at a continuous rate of...

Square pulses for DLTS Measurements on the MFIA

22.08.2018

Introduction This blog post shows how to produce square voltage pulses and capture the resulting capacitance transients on a short timescale (20 us), for example, for deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) measurements. Using the LabOne ® Threshold Unit (which comes as a standard with the MFIA), it's possible to produce...

Rapid and Accurate C-V Measurements on the MFIA

19.08.2018

Fast C-V Measurements up to 3000 V/s This blog post demonstrates the ability of the MFIA (and of the MFLI with the MF-IA option) to measure capacitance on a short timescale (20 us) as a function of DC bias voltage, for example, for fast capacitance-voltage profiling measurements. Voltage sweeps of...

Displaying Nyquist Plots on the MFIA Impedance Analyzer

27.09.2017

Nyquist plots are a key tool when displaying complex impedance data. They display the real part of the signal on the X-axis against the imaginary part on the Y-axis. Each point on the plot represents a different frequency. The MFIA (and the MFLI with the MF-IA option) can display impedance...

LCR Meter vs Impedance Analyzer

11.08.2017

We are often asked about the difference between LCR meters and impedance analyzers, especially given that the MFIA Impedance Analyzer combines the functionalities of both instruments. LCR meters and impedance analyzers are fundamentally similar, in that they both measure impedance parameters such as capacitance, inductance and resistance.They achieve this by...

Teraohm Impedance Measurements with the MFIA Impedance Analyzer

29.05.2017

Introduction This blog post describes impedance measurements of a 1 TΩ commercially-available resistor using the MFIA Impedance Analyzer. This further demonstrates how the MFIA can accurately measure challenging components with very high impedance. Thanks to a clear reactance chart, MFIA users know what accuracy they can expect starting from the...

Characterizing High-Q 100 pF Capacitors with the MFIA

30.01.2017

In a previous blog post we discussed how the MFIA could be used to investigate 3000 F capacitors; here we turn to the other end of the spectrum to investigate 100 pF capacitors. Specifically, this blog post looks at high-Q (low loss) commercially available SMD capacitors...

Characterizing the ESR of a Supercapacitor with the MFIA

11.01.2016

Supercapacitors are very useful devices providing power for applications ranging from SRAM to high-speed trains. The energy density is 10 - 100 times higher than that of standard (electrolytic) capacitors. And although they have a lower energy density than lithium-ion batteries, they have a much higher power density...