Operation of the BNL LabVIEW & R-based
HP4154B SiGeIC Qualifier
Brookhaven National Lab
1. Run Q.vi. E.g., for Windows, double-click the desktop icon created during installation.
2. Click the LabVIEW Run arrow on the left of the toolbar.
3. Set the GPIB address (near the bottom) for the HP4145B.
4. Select the Switching Matrix. This defaults to the BNL setup (KTH 7002).
5. If selected, set the GPIB address for the KTH 7002 switching matrix. If no switching matrix is used, there is no GPIB address box for it. While there is an address box for the UCSC switcher, it currently has no effect, because that address is hardwired to 18.
6. Select the Temperature Probe. This defaults to None (currently the only option).
7. Select the Integration Time. This defaults to LONG, which makes the test take quite a long time.
8. If UCSC-compatible files are not needed, the Compatibility switch may be turned off.
9. Enter your Name (or initials), the Fluence during exposure, total Dose, Anneal Time, and annealing Temperature. If None was selected for the Temperature Probe selector, then the manually-read temperature in the testing box should be entered in the Box Temperature field. These fields may be tabbed through. If any of these are left blank, you will be queried when the test is started.
10. Select the Generation (e.g.,
11. Select all or some of the transistors on the chip. These are initially all selected, in blue and to the right of the Generation selection (i.e., A B C D, etc.). The available choices change with the Generation.
12. If the full range of tests are not needed, any of the FG1, FG2, ... M-1 switches may be turned off.
13. The GPIB Enable switch is a debugging aid which permits Q.vi to run without any hardware attached. It should be left on.
14. The Initialize switch automatically switches off after the GPIB initialization sequence has been done. If needed, if may be turned back on for each subsequent test.
15. The displays on the bottom are read-only:
Folder Root should display the directory where Q.vi resides. The directory tree for the data and definitions is/will be rooted there. The definitions are used to setup the HP4145B for the various tests, and may be modified by pressing the blue EDIT button. A separate set of instructions for editing these definitions may become available, but there may be little or no need for this. The definitions may also be edited with a standard text editor. These settings depend on the Generation and Chip. Directories for the data and plots are automatically created under the Folder Root.
Error Out will give some (possible useful) information if an error occurs, such as a GPIB malfunction or failure to include R and the Adobe Acrobat reader in the PATH, as per the installation instructions.
Start Time indicates the time of the test, and will be used as the timestamps for all tests in this cycle.
Status gives a running progress report as the test cycle proceeds.
16. With the power on for all needed equipment, press the green START button. At any time, the red STOP or yellow PAUSE buttons may be pressed. There may be a delay, because these are not processed until the current communication with the HP4145B is completed, including the wait-for-completion. The red QUIT button causes LabVIEW to stop running the vi.
General Notes
When all tests on all selected transistors are complete, Q.vi runs an R program that generates a summary plot for the FG1 and FG2 tests, for each selected transistor on the chip. This is then displayed as a pdf file. Clicking the Pages tab on the pdf display will show all transistors’ plots as thumbnails.
If desired, the defaults can be changed. First, stop LabVIEW, e.g., with the QUIT button. Select the desired field, Right-click, select Data Operations, then choose Make Current Value Default. Any such changes will be lost when Q.vi is updated, so they should be noted.
Each test produces four files, in a unique location with the timestamp at the lowest level of the directory tree, so there is really no danger of ever overwriting files. (This can also lead to a proliferation of junk files.) The four files are:
*.hpg: Graph files, with header and histogram data.
*.hpd: Definition files, which record the settings loaded into the HP4145B for each graph
*.hpi: Information files, which record the information entered in the yellow boxes, as well as other information as it becomes available.
*.hpr: Raw data files, as read out from the HP4145B. These include a one-character qualifier for each datum. These may never be needed.
In addition to those, a compatibility file is generated, of type *.txt, under a separate directory structure, if the Compatibility switch is enabled. This file is compatible with existing UCSC R programs.