Agilent Technologies 16440A User manual

Agilent Technologies
Agilent 16440A
SMU/Pulse Generator
Selector
User’s Guide

Notices
© Agilent Technologies 1994 - 2007
No part of this manual may be reproduced in
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tronic storage and retrieval or translation
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Manual Part Number
16440-90000
Edition
Edition 1, February 1994
Edition 2, April 1995
Edition 3, August 1997
Edition 4, January 2000
Edition 5, November 2007
Agilent Technologies, Inc.
5301 Stevens Creek Blvd
Santa Clara, CA 95051 USA
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Safety Summary
The following general safety precautions must be observed during all phases of
operation, service, and repair of this instrument. Failure to comply with these
precautions or with specific warnings elsewhere in this manual may impair the
protections provided by the equipment. In addition, it violates safety standards of
design, manufacture, and intended use of the instrument. Agilent Technologies, Inc.
assumes no liability for customer’s failure to comply with these requirements.
•GROUND THE INSTRUMENT
This is Safety Class I instrument. To minimize shock hazard, the instrument chassis
and cabinet must be connected to an electrical ground. The power terminal and the
power cable must meet International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) safety
standards.
•DO NOT OPERATE IN AN EXPLOSIVE ATMOSPHERE
Do not operate the instrument in the presence of flammable gases or fumes.
Operation of any electrical instrument in such an environment constitutes a
definite safety hazard.
•KEEP AWAY FROM LIVE CIRCUITS
Operation personnel must not remove instrument covers. Component replacement
and internal adjustments must be made by qualified maintenance personnel. Do
not replace components with power cable connected. Under certain conditions,
dangerous voltages may exist even with the power cable removed. To avoid
injuries, always disconnect power and discharge circuits before touching them.
•DO NOT SERVICE OR ADJUST ALONE
Do not attempt internal service or adjustment unless another person, capable of
rendering first aid and resuscitation, is present.
•DO NOT SUBSTITUTE PARTS OR MODIFY INSTRUMENT
Because of the danger of introducing additional hazards, do not install substitute
parts or perform any unauthorized modification to the instrument. Return the
instrument to a Agilent Technologies Sales and Service Office for services and
repair to ensure that safety features are maintained.
•DANGEROUS PROCEDURE WARNINGS
Warnings, such as example below, precede potentially dangerous procedures
throughout this manual. Instructions contained in the warnings must be followed.
WARNING Dangerous Voltage, capable of causing death, are present in this instrument. Use
extreme caution when handling, testing, and adjusting.

Safety Symbols
The general definitions of safety symbols used on equipment or in manuals are listed
below.
Instruction manual symbol: the product will be marked with this symbol when it is
necessary for the user to refer to the instruction manual in order to protect against
damage to the instrument.
Indicates dangerous voltage and potential for electrical shock. Do not touch terminals
that have this symbol when instrument is on.
Protective conductor terminal. For protection against electrical shock in case of a fault.
Used with field wiring terminals to indicate the terminal which must be connected to
ground before operating equipment.
Frame or chassis terminal. A connection to the frame (chassis) of the equipment which
normally includes all exposed metal structures.
Indicates earth (ground) terminal.
Alternating current.
Direct current.
ON (Supply).
OFF (Supply).
STANDBY (Supply).
Means INSTALLATION CATEGORY I. Measurement terminals on the rear panel comply
with INSTALLATION CATEGORY I.
WARNING The warning sign denotes a hazard. It calls attention to a procedure, practice, condition
or the like, which, if not correctly performed or adhered to, could result in injury or
death to personal.
CAUTION The caution sign denotes a hazard. It calls attention to an operating procedure,
practice, condition or the like, which, if not correctly performed or adhered to, could
result in damage to or destruction of part or all of the product.
CAT 1

User's Guide

2 Agilent 16440A User’s Guide, Edition 5
User's Guide
Agilent 16440A SMU/Pulse Generator Selector is one of the accessories available
for Agilent 4155/4156 Semiconductor Parameter Analyzers and Agilent B1500A
Semiconductor Device Analyzer. The selector is for automatically switching the
measurement resource that is connected to a DUT pin. The measurement resource
can be SMU, PGU, or SPGU.
This manual consists of the following sections.
• “Introduction”
• “Operation”
• “Installation”
• “Maintenance”
• “Specifications”
NOTE To Use the Selector
The 4155/4156 must be equipped with Agilent 41501 SMU/pulse generator
expander that contains two PGUs.
The B1500A needs Agilent 16445A selector adapter.
NOTE Inspecting the 16440A upon Receiving
When the 16440A arrives at your site, make sure that nothing is missing or
damaged. Unpack the carton, then check the contents against figure and table shown
in “Introduction”.
If anything is missing or damaged, contact your nearest Agilent Technologies sales
office.

Agilent 16440A User’s Guide, Edition 5 3
User's Guide
Introduction
Introduction
The 16440A selector contains the following accessories.
Description Agilent
Part Number Quantity
1 SMU/Pulse Generator Selector 16440A 1
2 40 cm triaxial cable 04155-61605 2
3 1.5 m control cable (16440A-001) 04155-61612 1
3 m control cable (16440A-002) 04155-61611 1
40 cm control cable (16440A-003) 04155-61608 1
4plate a
a. Three screws are furnished for each plate.
16440-60001 2
5angle b
b. Furnished with 16440A-001/002. Two screws are also furnished for
each angle.
16440-60002 2
6User's Guide c
c. This document. Furnished with 16440A-001/002.
16440-90005 1

4 Agilent 16440A User’s Guide, Edition 5
User's Guide
Operation
Operation
The selector provides the automatic switching capability of the measurement
resource SMU or PGU connected to a DUT terminal. This is useful for performing
reliability testing (stress testing) of DUTs. For example, the selector can connect a
PGU to the DUT for forcing ac stress, then can switch and connect an SMU for
measuring dc characteristics.
The selector has the channels CH 1 and CH 2 which provide the following
conditions.
CH 1 All open (no connection), SMU on, PGU on, and PGU open
CH 2 All open (no connection), SMU on, and PGU on
The PGU open is available only for the CH 1, and is made by keeping the PGU side
mechanical relay close and opening the semiconductor relay. This is effective for
frequent switching applications such as endurance tests of flash memory because the
semiconductor relay is more durable than mechanical relays.
If you want to add two more channels for a total of four, you can order another
16440A, which is called the “selector expander”. The selector and selector expander
have identical circuits. The only difference is the channel naming. The selector has
CH 1 and CH 2, and the selector expander has CH 3 and CH 4.
• Controlling the selector by using the 4155/4156
Selector connections can be set by using the SMU/PG SELECTOR table on the
STRESS: CHANNEL DEFINITION screen. See the 4155/4156 Setup Screen
Reference manual.
The switching state specified in the STRESS column is automatically performed
during stressing. The switching state specified in the MEASURE column is
automatically performed during measurement.
For example, you can specify to connect the PGU to the DUT during stress, and
connect the SMU to the DUT during measurement. So, when you press the Stress
key, the PGU is automatically connected to the DUT. And when you press a
measurement key, the SMU is automatically connected to the DUT.

Agilent 16440A User’s Guide, Edition 5 5
User's Guide
Operation
• Controlling the selector by using the B1500A
Selector connections can be set by using the SMU/PG Selector tab screen of the
Configuration window. And the PGU open can be set by using the Advanced
window of the Measurement Setup. See the B1500A User’s Guide.
If the Input/Output Path is set to Normally PGU (AUX) in the SMU/PG Selector
tab screen, the selector performs automatic switching in every test. The selector
channel normally makes the “PGU on” state and makes the “SMU on” state only
for the test which uses the SMU connected to the Input SMU terminal.
If the Semiconductor Relays on the Advanced window is set to PGU OPEN, the
selector channel makes the “PGU open” state during the test.
• Simplified circuit diagram
This figure shows a simple circuit diagram of the selector (selector expander).
The CH 1 and CH 3 circuits are different from the CH 2 and CH 4 circuits. Each
channel has one mechanical relay for SMU and one mechanical relay for PGU,
but the CH 1 and CH 3 circuits also have a semiconductor relay for PGU. The
relays are controlled by the 4155/4156/B1500A via the control circuit.
The semiconductor relay is useful when you need to perform a lot of switching
(for example, read/write tests of flash ROM) because the semiconductor relay is
more durable than mechanical relays.
CH 1 and CH 3 can have four switching states: all open, SMU on, PGU on, and
PGU open. CH 2 and CH 4 can have three switching states: all open, SMU on,
and PGU on.

6 Agilent 16440A User’s Guide, Edition 5
User's Guide
Operation
• Switching state
The switching state of a channel is indicated by the green LEDs on the selector
front panel. This table shows the relation of the relays and the LEDs for each
switching state.
The “PGU open” state is useful if a lot of switching needs to be performed.
When the switching state changes from “PGU on” to “PGU open”, only the
semiconductor relay switches. This reduces the amount of times the mechanical
relay is switched. The semiconductor relay has a much longer switching life than
the mechanical relay.
States CH 1 and CH 3 CH 2 and CH 4
All open
SMU on
PGU on
PGU open

Agilent 16440A User’s Guide, Edition 5 7
User's Guide
Operation
• Connecting two selectors
If you use two selectors to have four channels, connect the CONTROL Output
terminal of the selector to the CONTROL Input terminal of the second selector
using a 40 cm control cable as shown below.

8 Agilent 16440A User’s Guide, Edition 5
User's Guide
Operation
• Connecting the selector to the 4155/4156
Turn off the 4155/4156 and 41501 before connecting the instruments. Then
connect as shown below.
16440A terminal Cable Connect to
CONTROL Input 16440A-001/002 Control cable 41501 To SMU/Pulse Generator
Selector Interface
Input SMU a3.0 m or 1.5 m Triaxial cable 4156 HRSMU Force
4155 MPSMU Force
41501 MPSMU or HPSMU Force
Input PGU a3.0 m or 1.5 m Coaxial cable 41501 PGU
Output Selected b40 cm Triaxial cable DUT interface (16442A or
connector plate)
a. You can use two inputs for one selector, and four inputs for two selectors.
b. You can use two outputs for one selector and four outputs for two selectors. Selector out-
put is either one of the PGU outputs or the SMU output.
1
2
3
4
16442A/B Test Fixture
4155/4156
16440A Selector
41501

Agilent 16440A User’s Guide, Edition 5 9
User's Guide
Operation
• Connecting the selector to the B1500A
Turn off the B1500A before connecting the instruments. Then connect as shown
below.
16440A terminal Cable Connect to
CONTROL Input 16440A-003 Control cable 16445A CONTROL Output
16445A CONTROL Input 16445A-001/002 Control cable B1500A Digital I/O
Input SMU a3.0 m or 1.5 m Triaxial cable B1500A MPSMU Force
B1500A HRSMU Force
B1500A HPSMU Force
Input PGU a3.0 m or 1.5 m Coaxial cable B1500A SPGU Output
Output Selected b40 cm Triaxial cable DUT interface (16442A or
connector plate)
a. You can use two inputs for one selector, and four inputs for two selectors.
b. You can use two outputs for one selector and four outputs for two selectors. Selector out-
put is either one of the PGU outputs or the SMU output.
AC power
16440A Selector #2 for DUT terminals 3 and 4
B1500A Digital I/O
DUT terminal 1
SMU #1 Force
PGU #1 or others
DUT terminal 2
SMU #2 Force
PGU #2 or others
16445A Selector Adapter
16440A Selector #1
CONTROL
Input
Output
CONTROL
Input Output
CONTROL
Input
Output
Input
Output
Input
Input
Output
Input
CH 1 CH 2
CH 1 CH 2

10 Agilent 16440A User’s Guide, Edition 5
User's Guide
Installation
Installation
This section describes how to attach the selector to Agilent 16442A test fixture or to
a shielding box.
To Attach the Selector to Test Fixture
You can attach your selector to the 16442A test fixture. You need a standard
screwdriver.
NOTE If you use the 16445A selector adapter, fix it under the selector by similar method.
1. Place the selector on your workbench. 2. Place the test fixture on top of the selector.
3. Position a plate on both sides. 4. Attach each plate using the three flathead
screws supplied with the instrument.

Agilent 16440A User’s Guide, Edition 5 11
User's Guide
Installation
The following steps apply when using two selectors.
NOTE If you use the 16445A selector adapter, fix it under the selector by similar method.
5. Place the second selector on your
workbench. Place the selector and the test
fixture on top of the second selector.
6. Position a plate on both sides. 7. Attach each plate using the three flathead
screws supplied with the instrument.

12 Agilent 16440A User’s Guide, Edition 5
User's Guide
Installation
If you use the 16441A R-box, attach the R-Box to the selector as shown below.
NOTE If you use the 16445A selector adapter, fix it under the R-box by similar method.
16442A/B Test Fixture
16441A R-BOX
16440A Selector

Agilent 16440A User’s Guide, Edition 5 13
User's Guide
Installation
To Attach the Selector to Shielding Box
You can attach your selector to a shielding box. You need a standard screwdriver.
The following figure shows the spacing of the 16440A screw holes. You need to
prepare four screws and nuts to match the screw holes.

14 Agilent 16440A User’s Guide, Edition 5
User's Guide
Installation
If you use two selectors, connect selectors before attaching to the shielding box, as
shown below.
NOTE If you use the 16445A selector adapter, fix it on top of the selector by similar
method.
1. Place the selector on your workbench. 2. Place the second selector on top of the
selector.
3. Position a plate on both sides. 4. Attach each plate using the three flathead
screws supplied with the instrument.