S530/S540 KTE Linear Parametric Test Library (LPTLib) User's Manual
Section 2: Linear Parametric Test Library
S530-900-01 Rev. E / September 2017
2-9
Instrument and terminal IDs
The Linear Parametric Test Library (LPTLib) uses instrument identification codes to refer to the
instruments in the system. An instrument identification code is an integer value. This manual never
refers to the actual numbers used to identify the instruments. Instead, it refers to the mnemonic codes
that you can use in your programs to refer to the various instruments.
An instrument ID typically consists of a mnemonic string that identifies the type of instrument and a
number that specifically identifies an individual instrument of this type. For example,
SMU2
is an
instrument ID that refers to the second source-measure unit (SMU) in the system.
This manual often refers to a SMU instrument as
SMU
n
(the
n
represents a number), however, it does
not matter which SMU is being used. Anywhere an instrument ID is required by a library command, a
specific instrument ID (mnemonic) can be used directly or as an integer variable that was assigned
the value of an instrument ID. For example,
SMU
n
can indicate
SMU1
,
SMU2
,
SMU3
, and so on.
Most instruments have terminals that must be connected to your circuit before the instrument can be
used in a test sequence. For example, a simple voltmeter has two terminals: A high terminal and a
low terminal. The terminals of an instrument also have identification codes similar to the instrument
IDs; in some places an instrument ID and terminal ID can be used interchangeably.
The
(on page 3-1) section contains information for instruments you may
have in your system that can be controlled by the LPTLib. In some cases, specific terminal IDs are
associated with the instrument; where appropriate, they are listed in the
instr_id
parameter
description. There are also some special instrument IDs and terminal IDs that the system recognizes
but are not associated with any specific instrument.
Special instrument IDs:
•
KI_SYSTEM:
This refers to the system itself. Note that
KI_SYSTEM
is a special
pseudo-instrument and the instrument ID does not refer to the collection of instruments in the
system but to the pseudo-instrument itself.
Special terminal IDs:
•
CHUCK:
The chuck connection. The sense pin option cannot be used with
CHUCK
. Use
CHUCKM
instead.
•
KI_EOC:
This is a special terminal ID used to terminate a list of terminals in a connection
subroutine. This value is
0
; you can use the value
0
instead of
KI_EOC
.
Optimizing test sequences
There are several things you can do to optimize the S530/S540 for faster operation.