
README.TXT
    Agilent Technologies 4155B/4156B Sample Program for Agilent VEE
    Revision A.01.01
    March 15th, 2000

    Copyright (C) 1997, Agilent Technologies


Revision History
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  A.01.00  September 1st, 1997  Initial Release.
  A.01.01  March 15th, 2000     

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Contents:

1.  About This Document

2.  File Lists

3.  Program Overview

4.  Required Equipment and Accessories

5.  Installing the Sample Programs

A.  Test Environment

B.  Known Problems



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1.  About This Document

This document provides the following information for the sample
application programs stored in the Sample Program Disk
furnished with the Agilent 4155B/4156B.

 * File lists
 * Program overview
 * Required equipment and accessories
 * Installing the sample programs
 * Test environment
 * Known problems

Other Manuals and Online Help
-----------------------------
For other informations, refer to the following documents:

 Agilent VEE Programming :
         Agilent VEE (rev. 4.0) manuals or Online help

 Agilent 4155B/4156B itself : 
         Agilent 4155B/4156B User's Guide : General Information
         Agilent 4155B/4156B User's Guide : Measurement and Analysis

 Agilent 4155B/4156B plug&play driver function :
         Agilent 4155B/4156B Instrument Driver Online Help
         Agilent 4155B/4156B VXIplug&play Driver User's Guide

 Agilent E5250A itself : 
         Agilent E5250A User's Guide

 Agilent E5250A plug&play driver function :
         Agilent E5250A R&S plug&play Online Help 
         Agilent 4155B/4156B VXIplug&play Driver User's Guide

 Agilent VISA library :
         Agilent VISA User's Guide

 Cascade Microtech Prober Control Software :
         Cascade Microtech Prober Control Software Online Help 



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2.  File Lists

The Sample Program Disk stores the following files:

* readme.txt:  Readme text file (this document)
* sample1.vee: Sample program file for step-by-step test
* sample2.vee: Sample program file for sequential test
* sample.ppd:  Sample probe plan file for Cascade's semi-auto prober



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3.  Program Overview

The sample programs control the following equipments, and works as
shown below. The programs may be a reference for you to create a
measurement program using the VXIplug&play drivers for Agilent 4155B/4156B
and Agilent E5250A, and Agilent VEE.

Equipments:
* Agilent 4155B/4156B Semiconductor Parameter Analyzer
* Agilent E5250A Low Leakage Switch Mainframe with Agilent E5252A Matrix Card
* Cascade Microtech Summit series semi-auto prober

Execution flow:
* Initializes equipments.
* Probes a die.
* Measures Vth of two MOSFETs on the die.
* Displays measurement results.
* Saves the measurement results into a file.

Differences between two programs are the probing control and display.
The sample1.vee does probing and measurement for a die you specified,
and displays the Vth value, wafer map, and Id-Vg curves for two MOSFETs.
The sample2.vee does probing and measurement sequentially for all dies
defined in the probe plan file, and displays the Vth value, wafer map,
histogram, and Id-Vg curve you specified.

Caution:
The program and setup files stored on the Sample Program Disk are
examples only, and may need to be customized for your specific
application. Agilent Technologies is not responsible for any damage that
may occur from the use of these sample programs.



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4.  Required Equipment and Accessories

* PC (AT-compatible) for Windows
  Agilent VEE (version 4.0 or later) and the VXIplug&play drivers for 
  Agilent 4155B/4156B and Agilent E5250A must be installed in the PC 
  and ready for use.
  A 3.5 inch flexible disk drive must be connected to the PC.
  If you use the Cascade Microtech Summit series semi-auto prober, the 
  prober control software (PCS) supplied by Cascade Microtech,
  Inc. must be installed in the PC and the prober must be connected to 
  the PC via Cascade's interface. For the interface, and the operating 
  system supported by the PCS, contact Cascade Microtech, Inc. (PCS
  version 2.50 supports Windows 95 only).

* Agilent VEE Sample Program Disk

* Agilent 4155B or Agilent 4156B

* Agilent E5250A with two Agilent E5252As
  The Agilent E5252As must be installed in the Agilent E5250A slot 1 and 2.

* Cascade Microtech Summit Series Semi-Auto Prober        
  If you do not use the semi-auto prober, prepare the manual prober or 
  test fixture, such as the Agilent 16442A, to connect the test devices.

* Connection Cables
  Four triaxial cables are required to connect the Agilent 4155B/4156B and
  Agilent E5250A.
  Eight triaxial cables are required to connect the Agilent E5250A and the
  prober or test fixture. You will also need coaxial cables, probe
  card, manipulators, or wire to connect the test devices.
  Two GPIB cables are required to connect the instruments and the PC.



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5.  Installing the Sample Programs

To install the sample programs, do the following.

1) Make a working directory where you can install and execute the
   sample programs, using Windows Explorer.

2) Create a subdirectory in the working directory. The subdirectory
   will be used to save the measurement data files.

3) Insert the Sample Program Disk into the flexible disk drive
   connected to the PC.

4) Copy all of the files on the disk to the working directory.



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A.  Test Environment

The sample programs were tested in the following environment.

1) Online mode (full automatic)
     Hardware
       * HP Vectra VL Series 4  (Controller)
           CPU    : Pentium 166 MHz
           Memory : 48 MByte
       * Agilent 82341C GPIB Card
       * Agilent 4155B Semiconductor Parameter Analyzer (F/W Rev. 2.00)
       * Agilent E5250A Low Leakage Switch Mainframe (F/W Rev. A.01.02)
       * Cascade Microtech Summit Series 12000 Semi-Automatic Prober
     Software
       * Windows 95 (Japanese Version)
       * Agilent I/O Library (Rev. F.01.01)
       * Agilent VEE 4.0 for Windows 95 / Windows NT
       * VXIplug&play driver for Agilent 4155B/4156B (Rev. A.01.00)
       * VXIplug&play driver for Agilent E5250A (Rev. A.03.00)
       * Cascade Microtech Prober Control Software (Rev. 2.50)

2) Offline mode (no measurement equipment)
     Hardware
       * HP Vectra VL Series 4  (Controller)
           CPU    : Pentium 166 MHz
           Memory : 48 MByte
     Software
       * Windows 95 / Windows NT 4.0 (Japanese Version)
       * Agilent VEE 4.0 for Windows 95 / Windows NT
       * VXIplug&play driver for Agilent 4155B/4156B (Rev. A.01.00)
       * VXIplug&play driver for Agilent E5250A (Rev. A.03.00)



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B.  Known Problems

The sample programs are examples only to show you programming using
the VXIplug&play drivers for Agilent 4155B/4156B and Agilent E5250A. 
So you may encounter unexpected errors during program execution. 
The following problems have been already known.

* Program: sample2.vee
  Execution mode: all

  If a nonexistent file name is specified in the "View Vth
  Histogram" or the "View Vg-Id Graph", the program aborts due to an 
  exception error.

* Program: sample1.vee
  Execution mode: all

  After measurement, if the marker selection button in the
  lower-left corner of the "Device 1/2 Vg-Id Graph" is clicked, the
  program aborts due to a floating point exception error.

* Program: sample1.vee
  Execution mode: all

  The range check is not executed on the values in the "X Index" and
  "Y Index" fields. If negative values or extremely large values are
  specified for this value, the program aborts due to a floating
  point exception error or segmentation violation error.

* Program: sample1.vee and sample2.vee
  Execution mode: Online mode

  If the array for the drain current is extremely large or random,
  the program aborts due to a floating exception error in the Vth
  calculation object.



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