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The earth cable does not supply power to the unit, however it earths the chassis and it is advisable
to use it, especially if the electrical installation is not already fitted with high voltage/current
protection such as Residual Current Devices (RCD). Grounding the chassis unit is a safety precaution
and should not affect the quality of the measurement.
The Multiplexer Measurement Unit is powered via the USB connection to the computer. For the Unit
to operate properly, you must ensure the Unit is connected to a computer USB socket (version 2.0 or
above) capable of delivering at least 500 mA.
The Unit is intended to be used to measure one Device (transistor) at a time with any number of
Gates switched on. It can also be used to carry out stress-biased measurements where all the
twenty Devices are on, but all the Gates are switched off (see chapter
Lifetime and Stress Biased
Acquisition
in this User’s Manual).
Note
It is also possible to programme the multiplexer to carry out stress-biased measurement with
two Gates switched on, this configuration is however deprecated.
Important
The maximum current that the USB can supply to the multiplexor relay network limits
the number of lines (Drains and Gates) that can be switched and maintained on to twenty-two.
For lifetime and stress-biased measurements, it is recommended to connect the USB cable using a
USB power adapter (version 3.0 or later) to ensure continuous operation.
Please note that the coaxial cables used to connect the Multiplexer Measurement Unit to the SMU
can add leakage current to the measurement. This current is proportional to the length of the cable,
and it is therefore desirable to keep the coaxial cable as short as possible. To further minimize
leakage/noise low noise, it is recommended to use low resistance and capacitance RG (RGL) cables.
The grounds of Drain (Channel B) and Gate (Channel A) inputs are connected together inside the
multiplexer. It follows that Gate and Drain voltages are measured with respect to the same ‘zero’
voltage reference. The
common ground condition
is an essential requirement for OFET/TFT
measurement and must be maintained throughout the entire acquisition cycle.
Note
If the experimental set-up is such that the signal passes through a BNC-to-BNC connectors (for
example, GloveBox BNC feedthrough ), it is recommended that the ground of the connectors
should be connected together with a wire to minimise measurement distortion.