On the applying of the van der Pauw method to anisotropic media

Abstract

The paper deals with the ways of finding an electrical conductivity tensor of a plane and anisotropically conductive sample. On the basis of the analysis of currents flowing through the electrodes at vertices of a rectangular sample, we derived specific electrical conductivity tensor calculation formula. The novelty of the present article is the use of the rectangular shape sample with arbitrarily directed sides in respect of the principal axes of the tensor. The influence of values of electrode lengths and the tensor components on the accuracy of these formulae is investigated. An iterative algorithm of increase of precision of calculating the tensor's components is presented.