Model 4200A-SCS Source-Measure Unit (SMU) User's Manual
Section 4: Source-measure hardware
4200A-SMU-900-01 Rev. A December 2020
4-11
SENSE terminal
The SENSE terminal is a standard triaxial connector used to apply the ground unit SENSE signal to
the DUT in a remote sense application. The center pin is SENSE, the inner shield is GUARD, and the
outer shield is circuit COMMON. When the ground unit SENSE signal is connected to a DUT, all
SMU/preamplifier measurements are made relative to this DUT connection.
The SENSE terminal does not need to be connected to the DUT for the SMU to operate correctly.
Remote sensing is automatic. If SENSE is connected to the DUT, errors due to voltage drops in the
FORCE path between the SMU and the DUT are eliminated; otherwise, the SMU will sense locally.
Preamplifier CONTROL connector
The preamplifier CONTROL connector connects to the SMU PA CNTRL connector and provides both
power and signal connections from the SMU to the 4200-PA preamplifier.
SMU circuit COMMON connections
Some tests require SMUs to be connected to each DUT terminal. In these tests, circuit COMMON is
not hardwired to any of the DUT terminals. Each SMU must be able to internally connect circuit
COMMON to its FORCE signal when the test requires a DUT terminal to be connected to COMMON.
The following figure shows typical SMU connections using three SMUs to test a transistor. You can
use any one of the SMUs to provide access to circuit COMMON by programming the SMU
accordingly. See the
Model 4200A-SCS Clarius User's Manual
for detailed instructions on configuring
a SMU to provide a COMMON connection.
Figure 61: Typical SMU connections
