Paul Franklin

Avoid Cable-Related Errors In High Current SMU Measurements

Instrument Selection. Selecting the appropriate test equipment is the first step in achieving accurate, repeatable results at the highest speed. When it comes to electronic component testing, source measurement units (SMUs) have become the workhorses ... Read >

Combining SMUs for Higher Current Output

Power semiconductor device developers and manufacturers need to test their products under typical pulse mode operating conditions. For power management applications this means that device characterization could require instrumentation capable of sourcing ... Read >

Current Affairs in the Non-Volatile Memory Market

Non-volatile memory (NVM) technology has revolutionized information storage and enabled new categories of mobile consumer electronics, from smartphones and tablet computers to digital cameras and GPS navigation devices. This has created a shift to a h... Read >

Techniques for Accurate Electrical Charge Measurements

Charge is often measured as a quantity of particles on a physical surface or stored in a capacitor. Often, the human body, an electronic cable, or other electrical components may have a certain amount of inherent capacitance that allows charge to be store... Read >

Pulse Testing Requires Instruments with High-Speed ADCs

Typically, pulsed semiconductor testing involves I-V (current-voltage) device characterization using an SMU with pulse generator functionality. A pulsed voltage stimulus is applied to the device and the resulting current measured. Alternatively, a pulsed ... Read >

The Growing Need for Semiconductor High-Voltage Parametric Testing

Written by Paul Meyer How Did This Happen? The IC industry has been delivering on Gordon Moore’s prediction of doubling transistor density every 18 months and has done so for nearly half a century. As computing power soared, the need to integrate more... Read >

Techniques for Bulk Material Resistivity Measurements

Written By Mary Anne Tupta Electrical resistivity is a basic property that defines how well a material conducts current. It’s determined by measuring the resistance of a material sample, and then applying geometry factors. The three basic types of bu... Read >

Improving Low Electrical Current Measurements

Characterizing devices at low current levels requires knowledge, skill, and the right test equipment. Even with all three, achieving accuracy in these measurements can be a challenge because the current level is often at or below the noise level of the te... Read >

Triax Cables can Improve On-Wafer Parametric Testing

In wafer level DC measurements, anticipating the signal magnitudes makes it easier to assess potential sources of error. For simplicity, let’s assume all of the signals being measured are neither high voltage (i.e., greater than 100V) or high current (gre... Read >

Improving High Resistance Measurements with Voltmeter and Ammeter Instruments

Written By: Dale Cigoy High resistance measurements are integral to a variety of test applications, including surface insulation resistance (SIR) testing of printed circuit boards, resistivity measurements of insulating materials and semiconductors, an... Read >

High Brightness LEDs Require High-Speed Production Testing

HBLED testing involves different types of test sequences at various stages of production, such as during design research and development, on-wafer measurements during production, and final tests of packaged parts. Testing "recipes" often include a multitu... Read >

Semiconductor Parameter Analyzers for Three Critical Types of Semiconductor Measurement – Part III

One of the greatest challenges associated with integrating DC I-V, capacitance-voltage (C-V), and ultra-fast I-V measurement capabilities into a single parametric test chassis is that the cabling required for each measurement type is fundamentally differe... Read >

Semiconductor Parameter Analyzers for Three Critical Types of Semiconductor Measurement – Part II

To replace traditional DC I-V techniques, various implementations of high-speed (i.e., pulsed) I-V techniques have been developed for applications such as characterizing high-k dielectrics and Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) isothermal testing. When testing SO... Read >

Semiconductor Parameter Analyzers for Three Critical Types of Semiconductor Measurement- Part I

Characterizing a semiconductor device, material, or process thoroughly requires the ability to make three types of measurements. The first two types, DC I-V and AC impedance measurements, are the most familiar to semiconductor manufacturers. Precision DC ... Read >

Standards Will Help Ensure Order in Nano-Enabled Industries Part 2

The IEEE has assumed a leadership position in the development of nanoelec¬tronics standards. The factors driving the development of these standards are the need for reproducibility of results, international collaboration, and a common means of communicat... Read >