National Instruments PXIe-4162 PXI Source Measure Unit

The National Instruments PXIe-4162 (Part Number: 785680-01) is a unit of estimation of high-density source (SMU)—the device is equipped with 12 SMU channels. It has an activity of 4 quadrants with a current resolution of 10 pA (for the PXIe-4162 10 pA variant) or 100 pA (for the PXIe-4162 100 pA variant) and the ability to test up to 100 kS/s per channel (continuous measure rate), with a maximum source update rate of 40,000 updates/s per channel when all channels are active. The module also offers the capacity to customize transient response characteristics with the SourceAdapt feature, which enables the user to integrate the qualities of any load. The NI PXIe-4162 is perfect for an extensive variety of mixed signal integrated circuits in the semiconductor production test. The user can indicate any valid PXI trigger line (PXI_Trig0 to PXI_Trig7) or a software trigger for this technique. Valid trigger lines are recorded in MAX under the Routes tab of the device.

The input terminals can be indicated in one of two different ways. If the device is called Dev1 and its terminal is PXI_Trig0, the user can indicate the terminal with the name of the completely qualified terminal Dev1/PXI_Trig0, or with the name of the abbreviated terminal, PXI_Trig0. The input terminal can likewise be a terminal of another device. For instance, the user can arrange the input terminal in Dev1 to be Dev2/SourceCompleteEvent. The device has a voltage range of -24 V to 24 V, and a current range of -100 mA to 100 mA (when installed in a chassis with ≥58 W cooling capacity) or -60 mA to 60 mA (in a chassis with 38 W cooling capacity).

To successfully install the NI-DCPower driver software, which is required to run the device, an App Development Environment is required—any of LabVIEW or LabWindows/CVI would suffice. Also, the software can be configured using the Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX) tool. The device is a single-slot module with one backplane connector. The device weighs 13.9 oz and has the dimensions: 0.8 x 5.1 x 8.4 in.

The PXIe-4162 can be reset to a known state. The technique disables power generation, reestablishes session properties to their default estimates, clears errors such as over-temperature and unexpected loss of auxiliary power, confirms session properties, and leaves the session in the Uncommitted state. This technique does not perform a full hardware reboot but resets software states within the NI-DCPower driver and device session.