To resolve the confusion when many menu windows are open, pay attention to the path name in the title bar of each window. This will tell you which child window belongs to which parent widow. Very important when more than one model is open and active.
The term device commonly refers to a single component, while circuit refers to a configuration of more than one component. In this manual, for the sake of convenience both devices and circuits are referred to as devices.
The following terms are used throughout this manual to describe the basic parts of the IC-CAP system:
It is important to realize how the term model is used in IC-CAP. Model in IC-CAP includes more than just the model parameters. It also includes the physical and electrical chracteristics related to the model as well as the stimulus and response measurement data. Also included is all of the analysis information and plotting information.
IC-CAP provides a complete set of procedures for characterizing devices and circuits. Each of these procedures can be executed from easily accessed menus, or programmed into IC-CAP Macros. This means the system can be used for routine operations with a minimum of traning.
The main IC-CAP procedures are:
Creating an IC-CAP Model consists of defining the Circuit, the DUTs required for characterization, and the Setups that will apply to each DUT. Using a Model consists of setting up a physical device in a test fixture, and using the information defined in your Model to control test instruments and the various IC-CAP procedures. The following sections outline IC-CAP's general organization, and contain procedures for using an IC-CAP Model to characterize a device.
In most cases, IC-CAP commands for carrying out even very complex operations are executed simply by releasing a mouse button on a command in a pulldown or popup menu. IC-CAP is object oriented in nature, that is, first an item is selected, then the menu of operations that can be performed on that item is displayed.
The general procedure for characterizing a device consists of the following steps:
The instruments must be connected to the computer and IC-CAP via the HP-IB bus.
Existing Models may be loaded from the Model List or provided to IC-CAP via command line arguments when you start the software. Models are created and modified in IC-CAP editors.
Instruments connected to the test fixture generate source signals at the input nodes of the test device. The response signals are then recorded by the instruments connected to the output nodes of the device. When you execute IC-CAP's Measure command, IC-CAP takes control of the measuring instruments, causing them to execute their functions. The responses recorded by the instruments are then loaded into the IC-CAP data base.
Executing IC-CAP's Extract command causes the parameters that control the electrical behavior of the device to be calculated from the measured output data.
This generates a simulated data set for comparison with the measured data set.
Typical flow of how the user would use IC-CAP to extract model parameters from measured data.
In the instruction sets, you are asked to click, press, drag, or release the LEFT, MIDDLE, or RIGHT mouse button. These terms are defined as follows:
IC-CAP factlities are contained in windows and tiles. A window usually contains an application, such as Model. A window is characterized by a menu bar and one or more tiles. The menu bar contains the window main menu, and Help and Close buttons. A tile provides access to the application's factlities, such as DUTs and Setups. The layout of a typical IC-CAP window is shown in figure 2-16.
Figure 2-16: Typical IC-CAP Window, with Menu Bar and Tiles
The first time you open a particular IC-CAP window, you must interactively position it with the mouse pointer. The window is initially displayed as a wire frame that defines a rectangular window outline. You may place this frame anywhere on the display screen by moving the mouse. Do not click or press any mouse buttons while doing so.
When the frame is where you want it, click LEFT. This fixes the window position and displays the window.
Subsequently, whenever you open a window, it appears immediately at the location it was at when it was last closed.
To move a displayed window, place the mouse pointer anywhere on the window border area. Press the RIGHT mouse button and drag the mouse ( press RIGHT, drag RIGHT ). The window moves in the direction that you move the mouse. Release the mouse button to fix the window.
To resize the Plot Window, place the mouse pointer at the outside edge of the window to be repositioned with respect to the other edges. The mouse pointer turns into an arrow that points in the direction of expansion. If the pointer is in a corner, the arrow points diagonally. To accomplish expansion or reduction, press LEFT and move the mouse pointer. A wire frame appears that displays the new outline of the window. Release the mouse button to resize the window.
To expand the Plot Window to full screen size, click LEFT on the Maximize button, located in the upper right corner of the window. Click LEFT on the same button to return the window to normal size.
A window may cover one or more other windows. To bring any covered window to the top, click LEFT in the window's Title Bar. To move it to the bottom, click LEFT on the Title Bar again. A hidden window also will be raised (uncovered) when you edit that window.
To store a window in the form of an icon at the bottom of your screen, click LEFT on the window's Icon button (the second button from the right in the upper right corner of the window). You can also change the window to an iconic state with a click MIDDLE on the window's Title Bar. To restore a window to an open state, click LEFT twice on the icon.
Sometimes it is desirable to have only certain tiles of a window open. This is the case if a tile is rarely used, or if opening all of the tiles at the same time consumes too much space. A tile can be opened or closed with a click MIDDLE on the tile Title Bar. When a tile is closed, only the Title Bar appears. However, if there is a popup menu attached to the tile Title Bar, it can be accessed regardless of the state of the tile.
After working with a Model, you may have a number of windows open and placed exactly where you want them. If you save this configuration before you exit IC-CAP, the next time you open the same Model, the same windows are opened and placed in the same positions. The states of the individual tiles of a window are also stored with the configuration.
The procedure for saving all or part of a Model to an archive file is described below in the Directory Dialog Box section.
A Directory Dialog Box contains a File Filter, a list of current directories, a list of current files, a Selection field, an OK button, a Filter button, and a Cancel button. When an item such as a Model is being written to a file or read from a file, a Directory dialog box is used. The Directory Dialog box used for reading or writing a Model is shown in figure 2-24.
Figure 2-24: Directory Dialog Box
Each different type of item that can be saved has a unique file extension, and the extension pertaining to the item of interest is used in the File Filter. For example, the Directory Dialog Box used for reading a Model contains the filter criterion *.mdl. The criterion produces a list of models currently on the system, which are any files that end with *.mdl. The DUT Directory Dialog Box uses the criterion *.dut, and so on. The table below lists the IC-CAP file name extensions.
File Extension File Type .mdl Model .mac Macro .cir Circuit .mps Model Parameters .dut DUT .dps DUT Parameters .tci Test Circuit .set Setup .inp Input .out Output .xfm Transform .plt Plot .hdw Hardware
The filter criterion is alterable. For example, typing
b*.mdlinto the File Filter field, and pressing the RETURN key or performing a click LEFT on the Filter button causes the Files list to be altered to contain only those files whose names begin with b and end with .mdl.
A selection is made from the Files list with a click LEFT on the desired file. Scroll the list by using the scroll bar on the right. The selected file is automatically inserted into the Selection field. To complete the selection process and continue with the current operation, click LEFT on the OK button. Alternately, a double click LEFT (two clicks in rapid succession) on the file in the Files list selects the file and exits the dialog box.
If the desired file name is not in the Files list, you can supply it manually in the Selection field. If this is the case, the Directory Dialog Box behaves like the Prompt Dialog Box described above. You can select a file, and alter the name slightly in the Selection field. In either case, if you do not enter the proper file extension, it is automatically added to the name.
As with the Prompt Dialog Box, you can click LEFT on the Cancel button to stop execution of the current operation.
By default, the directory whose contents are displayed in the Directory Dialog Box is the directory from which the IC-CAP session was initiated. However, you can change the working directory by executing the Change Diretory command on the Utilities pulldown menu of the IC-CAP main menu. If this command is executed, a Prompt Dialog Box is used to obtain the new directory name.
Several features are provided in IC-CAP to help recover from troublesome situations. You may initiate an operation that does not have the desired result, and you may either need to abort this operation, or reset the system to the state that existed before the operation was initiated.
In IC-CAP, you can abort all time consuming operations by typing CTRL-C in the terminal window in which the IC-CAP process is running.
NOTE: CTRL-C is generated by pressing the C key on the keyboard while holding down the CTRL key.
The operations that can be aborted are Measurement, Simulation, Macro Execution, Transform Execution, and Optimization. Usually, IC-CAP control is immediately returned to you when the CTRL-C is performed. However, if an optimization is aborted, an optimization summary is printed before control is returned.
The ability to save IC-CAP information at a variety of levels allows you to easily preserve a particular state for future restoration. Some example of this are:
Proper use of this information archiving capability allows restoration of any desired IC-CAP state.