Keysight B2980 Series Operating instructions

Keysight B2980 Series 
Femto/Picoammeter 
Electrometer/High Resistance Meter
Programming Guide

Notices
© Keysight Technologies 2014
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Manual Part Number
B2980-90020
Edition
Edition 1, September 2014
Keysight Technologies
1400 Fountaingrove Parkway 
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
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In This Manual
This manual provides the information for controlling Keysight Technologies B2980 by
using an external computer, and consists of the following chapters.
•“Controlling Keysight B2980”
•“Programming Examples”
See Keysight B2980 User's Guide for information about the B2980 itself.
Refer to Keysight B2980 SCPI Command Reference for the SCPI messages and
conventions, data output format, error code, and the details on Keysight B2980 SCPI
commands.

Contents
Keysight B2980 Programming Guide, Edition 1
1. Controlling Keysight B2980
Before Starting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3
Controlling Various Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5
Controlling the Measurement Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-10
Controlling the Source Output. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-13
Using the Math Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-17
Performing the Limit Test. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1-18
Using the Trace Buffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-20
Using Program Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-22
2. Programming Examples
Preparations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3
Spot Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-7
Staircase Sweep Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-9
List Sweep Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-14
Sampling Measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-19
Pass/Fail Judgement and Math Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-23
Using Program Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-27
Reading Binary Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-30
Reading Data during Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-32

Keysight B2980 Programming Guide, Ed ition 1
Contents

1Controlling Keysight B2980

1-2 Keysight B2980 Programming Guide, Ed ition 1
Controlling Keysight B2980
This chapter describes basic information to control Keysight B2980, and consists of
the following sections.
•“Before Starting”
•“Controlling Various Functions”
•“Controlling the Measurement Function”
•“Controlling the Source Output”
•“Using the Math Function”
•“Performing the Limit Test”
•“Using the Trace Buffer”
•“Using Program Memory”
The following conventions are used in this document for expressing SCPI
commands.
Convention Description
Angle
brackets < > Items within angle brackets are parameter abbreviations. For example, <NR1> indicates a specific form of numerical data.
Vertical bar | Vertical bars separate alternative parameters. For example,
VOLT | CURR indicates that either “VOLT” or “CURR” can
be used as a parameter.
Square
brackets [ ] Items within square brackets are optional. The representation [SENSe:]VOLTage means that SENSe: may be omitted.
Parentheses ( ) Items within parentheses are used in place of the usual
parameter types to specify a channel list. The notation (@1:3)
specifies a channel list that includes channels 1, 2, and 3. The
notation (@1,3) specifies a channel list that includes only
channels 1 and 3.
Braces { } Braces indicate parameters that may be repeated zero or more
times. It is used especially for representing arrays. The notation
<A>{,<B>} shows that parameter “A” must be entered, while
parameter “B” omitted or may be entered one or more times.

Keysight B2980 Programming Guide, Ed ition 1 1-3
Controlling Keysight B2980
Before Starting
Before Starting
This section describes the information needed before starting programming.
•“Software Requirements”
•“Connecting to the Interface”
•“Starting the Instrument Control”
Software Requirements
Programming examples described in this manual use the following software. Install
the software to your computer to execute the programming examples.
• Keysight IO Libraries Suite software
• Microsoft Visual Basic .NET software
Connecting to the Interface
Keysight B2980 supports GPIB, LAN, and USB interfaces. All three interfaces are
live at power-on. Select the interface used for controlling the B2980. Connect your
interface cable to the appropriate interface connector.
For the information on configuring the interfaces, see Keysight B2980 Series User’s
Guide.

1-4 Keysight B2980 Programming Guide, Ed ition 1
Controlling Keysight B2980
Before Starting
Starting the Instrument Control
The following program code is one of the simple program template for starting and
ending the communication between the computer and the instrument. For using the
code, the instrument address must be set to the address variable correctly.
Sub Main()
Dim rm As Ivi.Visa.Interop.ResourceManager
Dim ioObj As Ivi.Visa.Interop.FormattedIO488
Dim address As String = "enter address of your instrument"

rm = New Ivi.Visa.Interop.ResourceManager
ioObj = New Ivi.Visa.Interop.FormattedIO488
ioObj.IO = rm.Open(address)
’ insert your code for instrument control
ioObj.IO.Close()
End Sub
The address value depends on the interface as shown below.
• For using the GPIB interface
The address value is the VISA GPIB Connect String displayed on the GPIB
Configuration dialog box opened by pressing the System Menu > More > I/O >
GPIB function keys.
Example:
address = "GPIB0::23::INSTR"
• For using the USB interface
The address value is the VISA USB Connect String displayed on the USB
Status dialog box opened by pressing the System Menu > More > I/O > USB
function keys.
Example:
address = "USB0::2391::12345::XY00001234::0::INSTR"
• For using the LAN interface
The address value is as follows.
address = "TCPIP0::xxx.yyy.zzz.aaa::5025::SOCKET"
Where, xxx.yyy.zzz.aaa is the IP Address displayed on the LAN Configuration
dialog box opened by pressing the System Menu > More > I/O > LAN > Config
function keys.
Example:
address = "TCPIP0::192.168.0.1::5025::SOCKET"