Examples

SweepMe! can be used for sheer number of academic and industrial measurements and processes, from a simple reading of a temperature sensor to device fabrication by physical vapor deposition in a vacuum chamber. A few example use-cases are presented in this article. However, the possibilities are indeed unlimited! As the retired NASA astronaut Ron Garan once said, “We are limited only by our imagination and our will to act”.

For each use-case, a self-explanatory example Sequencer is given, with a short explanation. One can configure the Modules by double-clicking on them in the Sequencer window. In this article, the Sequencer is depicted with the free online ASCII tree-generator tool tree.

Current-voltage characteristics

One SMU module is all you need for the quickest, simplest current-voltage curve of a semiconductor device like an LED, a solar cell, or a transistor! By adding a second SMU, one can measure the characteristic curves of two-port networks and devices. Don't forget to input the sweep range of SMU(s) in the sweep values window of the module!

MakeFile
└── SMU-Keithley_2400
    └── SMU-Keithley_2400  # e.g. for transistors characteristic curve

Cyclic battery tests

Yes! Just one module to do battery tests!

MakeFile
└── SMU-Rohde&Schwarz_NGx

Sensor monitoring system

A microcontroller board like Arduino can come in handy as an interface between sensors and computers. There are different SweepMe! drivers accompanied with Arduino .ino sketch files to read common sensors. In the example below, a DHT temperature and relative humidity sensor is read with the Logger-Arduino_DHTxx driver in a certain interval, defined by delay. The data then is published with popular IoT protocol MQTT over the local network. For more information, please refer to Arduino Driver guide and MQTT articles.

MakeFile
└── Loop
    └── Logger-Arduino_DHTxx
        └── MQTT
            └── Delay

Angle dependent spectra

MakeFile
└── Switch
    └── SMU

Sensitive EQE measurements

Task

Measuring external quantum efficiency of solar cells or photo detectors

Sequencer

MakeFile
└── Switch - Lamp
    └── Switch - Optical chopper
        └── Monochromator
            └── Switch - Filter wheel
                └── Switch - Current amplifier
                    └── LockIn 
                        └── LockIn

Tree

Solution

A module Switch is used to load a driver for controlling a lamp power supply. A Monochromator module make wavelength variation defined in the Sweep editor of this module. At each wavelength the wavelength is handed over to Switch module that connects to a filter wheel in order to change filters such that second harmonics are reduced. A Switch

Temperature dependent material and device characterization

• Temperature dependent material and device characterization

Wafer prober tests and measurements

In semiconductor industry, it's sometimes the case that the test and automation engineer design a measurement routine quickly and apply different measurements for each die on a wafer. With SweepMe!, this is easier than ever! Define the wafer die positions and measurement routine flags in an Excel file and read it by putting the add-on module ReadValues in the Sequencer. Then check for measurement flags with the add-on module Condition and run the appropriate measurement for the specified die.

MakeFile
└── ReadValues
    └── WaferProber-SENTIO
        └── Switch-Keithley_707B
            ├── Condition
            │   └── SMU-Keithley_4200-SCS
            │       └── SMU-Keithley_4200-SCS
            ├── Condition
            │   └── Temperature-Eurotherm_350x
            │       └── SMU-Keithley_4200-SCS
            │           └── SMU-Keithley_4200-SCS     
            └── Condition
                └── SMU-Keithley_4200-SCS

Vacuum thin film deposition

With SweepMe! you have all you need for a quick, yet powerful thin-film fabrication with PVD by thermal evaporation. For this you need to boost your SweepMe! with its Add-On Modules like PID, Condition, and CustomFunction. Don't manually tune your PID parameters; instead, use PID module's autotuning feature!

MakeFile
└── Delay															    # define an interval
    └── Logger-Leybold_CombivacCM31                    				    # UHV pressure meter
        └── Logger-Inficon-SQM-160                        			    # two-channel QCM deposition rate monitor
            └── CustomFunction-Smoothing_Savitzky-Golay      			# smoothing filter for the matrix deposition rate
                └── CustomFunction-Smoothing_Savitzky-Golay      		# smoothing filter for the dopant deposition rate
                    └── Switch-Yoctopuce_Yocto-Relay                	# pneumatic shutter
                        ├── Loop										# pre-heating to slightly below the evaporation temperatures
                        │   └── Temperature-Eurotherm-22xx				# temperature controller for matrix crucible
                        │       └── Temperature-Eurotherm-22xx			# temperature controller for dopant crucible
                        │           └── Condition                		# exit the loop when the temperatures are reached
                        ├── Loop										# waiting loop to guaranty ultra-high vacuum 
                        │   └── Condition								# exit the loop if UHV is met
                        ├── Loop										# stabilization loop (with more aggressive PID parameters)
                        │   └── PID                                     # PID module to stabilize the matrix rate
                        │       └── PID                                 # PID module to stabilize the dopant rate
                        │           └── Temperature-Eurotherm-22xx      # read temperature and apply power to matrix crucible
                        │               └── Temperature-Eurotherm-22xx  # read temperature and apply power to dopant crucible
                        │                   └── Condition               # open the shutter at the right deposition rate and exit the loop
                        └── Loop										# deposition loop (with more robust PID parameters)
                            └── PID                                     # PID module to keep the matrix rate stable
                                └── PID                                 # PID module to keep the dopant rate stable
                                    └── Temperature-Eurotherm-22xx      # read temperature and apply power to matrix crucible
                                        └── Temperature-Eurotherm-22xx  # read temperature and apply power to dopant crucible
                                            └── Condition 				# stop the measurement when a desired thickness is deposited