Set Up A Probe Station; Prober Control Overview - Keithley 4200A-SCS Reference Manual

In this appendix:

Prober control overview

Semi-automatic and fully-automatic probe stations are typically controlled programmatically through a
GPIB or RS-232 communications interface. In this situation, the 4200A-SCS acts as the system
controller and is connected to the probe station using the appropriate communications interface.
The 4200A-SCS facilitates automated wafer-level testing through various prober control mechanisms.
Standard prober drivers are included with the 4200A-SCS, and a number of commercially available
automated probe stations are supported. The 4200A-SCS can control supported probers without
requiring the user to develop any additional software.
For probers that are not supported by the standard drivers, the open architecture of the 4200A-SCS
software allows you to integrate prober control into the test flow by creating a user library.
A probe station is controlled by the 4200A-SCS with user modules. User modules are created in the
Keithley User Library Tool. Refer to
information regarding user libraries.
The PRBGEN library of prober user modules is provided with the 4200A-SCS to simplify prober control.
This generic prober user library, developed and maintained by Keithley Instruments, allows Clarius to
control all supported probers in the same manner. Therefore, Clarius projects that use PRBGEN work
with any prober supported by Keithley Instruments. Refer to
list of supported probers and links to additional information.
Many of the PRBGEN user modules have already been built into Clarius as actions. You can add these
actions to the project tree in any location that makes sense for your system. The position of the action
in the project tree determines when the action is run during a test. For example, in a device with
multiple tests, the device level can be run directly, which executes each test under the device
sequentially. If an action also exists in the device level, the action runs in sequence with the tests.
Similarly, actions under the subsite, site, or project levels execute automatically when the subsite,
site, or project is run.
You can connect 4200A-SCS measurement signals to most commercially available wafer probers.
Probers that provide triaxial connections to their probes and chuck are the easiest because of the
triaxial connections on the 4200-SMU, 4210-SMU, 4200-PA, and GNDU. For other connections, you
can get adapters and cable kits from Keithley Instruments that allow the 4200A-SCS to be adapted to
any connection environment.
Prober control overview ............................................................ F-1
Understanding site coordinate information ............................... F-7
PRBGEN user library .............................................................. F-10
Tutorial: Control a probe station ............................................. F-15
Keithley User Library Tool (KULT)

Set up a probe station

(on page 8-1) for more
Supported probers (on page F-3) for a
Appendix F