Labivew program for KE6487 picoammeter

[HamzaZG]

Hello everyone,

I have limited knowledge about labview and have been trying to learn labview through online help and youtube videoes. Now my professor requires me to make a VI that will measure current-voltage (IV Characteristic of a transistor) using Keithley 6487 picoammeter. Unfortunately I have been unable to find any good help/assistance regarding this. 

My questions are:

1. How will I go about making this program?? (Honestly I have no idea)

2. I have to communicate with instrument through GPIB. I don't know how to program this?

It seems like i am asking you guys to make VI for me but that is not the case I just need proper direction where I can consult and learn while making the program. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[CaravagGIO]

Hi HamzaZG,

good start is to visit Keithley webpage , install Keithley IO Layer and drivers . After that you will see a palette in LV and you can try to use LV example from keithley webpage.

Best regards,

CaravagGIO

[Albert.Geven]

Don't follow the advice to install the keithley IO-layers.

It will add a lot of software and you get more lost than just staying within LabVIEW

Added is a small begin for a LabVIEW based instrumentdriver for the 6485 but this should be compatible....with the 6487.

Furthermore starting to develop a big program in LabVIEW without starting small is very difficult. As is all programming in a new environment.

NI makes you beleive it is easy, and that is true, but only for small programs.

So start small and learn how to go on by growing.

[HamzaZG]

Guys thank you for providing the link for KE6485/6487 IO layers .. 

I know making such a big problem will not be a easy task by any means but I have to do it. 

Thanks again .. 

Does anyone have/ know link to a detailed tutorial for interfacing/programming equipment through labview??

I have not been able to find anything that provides much detail 

[Albert.Geven]

Hi
Please describe which other instrument you are using. Just a picoampmeter is not sufficient for measuring cv.

[Dennis_Knutson]

This is really a pretty small task. You just increment the voltage and measure current. As mentioned, though, you have not provided the voltage source. Assuming it also has a driver, refer to the links at http://www.ni.com/downloads/instrument-drivers/ on what a driver is and how to use one. However, before you start to mess around with any code, you should learn the instruments and how to perform a measurement manually. If you have mastered that, the rest is pretty easy. You need the ramp pattern function and a for loop.

[HamzaZG]

I will use the picoammeter to vary the voltage while simulataneously measuring the current .. 

Ok I will go through the links provided above .. Thanks .. 

[Dennis_Knutson]

I didn't realize the instrument is also a voltage source. It also seems that it has a built-in i-v function. That should get you up and running in minutes.

[HamzaZG]

I know it has been sometime since I updated this post .. 

So here it goes .. 

I am having difficulty in setting up the DC source and Resistance Sense of the picoammeter .. The program i wrote for current measurement only is not giving any errors (will be checking that in a day or two) 

With Resistance I am constantly getting an error that parameter 2 is out of range (error in measurement function) 

Error in Resistance Sense:

Possible reason(s):

Driver Status: (Hex 0xBFFA0010) Invalid value for parameter or property.

Secondary Error: (Hex 0xBFFC0002) Parameter 2 out of range, or error occurred while setting Parameter 2.

Elaboration: Measurement Function

With DC Source can you tell me the difference between "Configure Source Bias" and "Configure Source DC"???

Also the Picoammeter has two functions Voltage .. It can be DC or Sweep .. Which VI can be used to interchange between the two?

[nyc_(is_out_of_here)]

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@HamzaZG wrote:

I know it has been sometime since I updated this post .. 

So here it goes .. 

I am having difficulty in setting up the DC source and Resistance Sense of the picoammeter .. The program i wrote for current measurement only is not giving any errors (will be checking that in a day or two) 

With Resistance I am constantly getting an error that parameter 2 is out of range (error in measurement function) 

Error in Resistance Sense:

Possible reason(s):

Driver Status: (Hex 0xBFFA0010) Invalid value for parameter or property.

Secondary Error: (Hex 0xBFFC0002) Parameter 2 out of range, or error occurred while setting Parameter 2.

Elaboration: Measurement Function

With DC Source can you tell me the difference between "Configure Source Bias" and "Configure Source DC"???

Also the Picoammeter has two functions Voltage .. It can be DC or Sweep .. Which VI can be used to interchange between the two?

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All this information is in the manual for the instrument. READ it.