Keithley Instruments, Inc. (NYSE: KEI), a world leader in advanced electrical test instruments and systems, has enhanced its popular ACS Basic Edition software, adding support for a broader line of source-measure (SMU) instrumentation. This broader choice of compatible instruments should prove especially useful in expanding the software's voltage and current limits available for testing solar cells, photovoltaic panels, and discrete power semiconductors. ACS Basic Edition combines high speed hardware control, device connectivity, and data management into an easy-to-use tool optimized for part verification, debugging, and analysis. For more information, visit www.keithley.com/products/semiconductor/?mn=ACSBasicEdition.
With the introduction of Version 1.1, ACS Basic Edition, a member of Keithley's Automated Characterization Suite (ACS) family, can now support a far broader range of DC voltage and current test capabilities. It's compatible with the company's full SMU offering, the broadest array of choices in the industry. Depending on the SMU selected, ACS Basic Edition supports sourcing and measuring up to 5A or 1100V DC on individual channels. The newly expanded source and measure ranges are especially useful for tests on evolving photovoltaic panels/solar cells and high power electronics in research, failure analysis, and inspection applications. ACS Basic Edition now also supports combining different SMU models into a single test, allowing easier configuration, test creation, and test execution - with no need to write code.
Keithley developed ACS Basic Edition to maximize the productivity of technicians and engineers responsible for packaged part characterization in applications ranging from early device research through development, quality verification, and failure analysis. It is delivered complete with a library of pre-configured component test routines to minimize start-up time, reduce the need for code development, and simplify the component testing process. Even novice users can test a semiconductor component in seconds and compare the characteristic curves with reference curves immediately. Much like a traditional analog curve tracer, ACS Basic Edition can generate a family of curves on a packaged part quickly but also offers the flexibility to save, compare, and correlate results easily.