Patent ID: 6894479

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: a vacuum chamber which vacuum seals an electrical node of interest of a circuit under test using a flexible vacuum seal to seal one or more openings of said vacuum chamber; a thin wire cable which probes an alternating current (AC) signal on said electrical node of interest, said thin wire cable comprising only a single wire and an insulation layer formed concentrically around said single wire, a first end having a test instrument connector that electrically connects to an external test instrument located outside of said vacuum chamber that is characterized by an external instrument input impedance and a second end having a node connector that electrically connects to said electrical node of interest sealed within said vacuum chamber, said thin wire cable being routed between said vacuum chamber and said external test instrument around or through said flexible vacuum seal, and said single wire and said insulation layer forming a capacitance to a ground on said circuit under test that is much greater than said external instrument input capacitance which allows detection of said AC signal by said external test instrument using only said thin wire cable.