T&C Power Conversion AG Series Plasma Generator CXN

class pymeasure.instruments.tcpowerconversion.CXN(adapter, name='T&C RF sputtering power supply', address=0, **kwargs)

Bases: Instrument

T&C Power Conversion AG Series Plasma Generator CXN (also rebranded by AJA International Inc as 0113 GTC or 0313 GTC)

Connection to the device is made through an RS232 serial connection. The communication settings are fixed in the device at 38400, stopbit one, parity none. The device uses a command response system where every receipt of a command is acknowledged by returning a ‘*’. A ‘?’ is returned to indicates the command was not recognized by the device.

A command messages always consists of the following bytes (B): 1B - header (always ‘C’), 1B - address (ignored), 2B - command id, 2B - parameter 1, 2B - parameter, 2B - checksum

A response message always consists of: 1B - header (always ‘R’), 1B - address of the device, 2B - length of the data package, variable length data, 2B - checksum response messages are received after the acknowledge byte.

Parameters
  • adapter – pyvisa resource name of the instrument or adapter instance

  • name (string) – Name of the instrument.

  • kwargs – Any valid key-word argument for Instrument

Note

In order to enable setting any parameters one has to request control and periodically (at least once per 2s) poll any value from the device. Failure to do so will mean loss of control and the device will reset certain parameters (setpoint, disable RF, …). If no value should be polled but control should remain active one can also use the ping method.

preset_1
Channel

PresetChannel

preset_2
Channel

PresetChannel

preset_3
Channel

PresetChannel

preset_4
Channel

PresetChannel

preset_5
Channel

PresetChannel

preset_6
Channel

PresetChannel

preset_7
Channel

PresetChannel

preset_8
Channel

PresetChannel

preset_9
Channel

PresetChannel

class Status(value, names=None, *, module=None, qualname=None, type=None, start=1, boundary=None)

Bases: IntFlag

IntFlag type used to represent the CXN status.

The used bits correspond to: bit 14: Analog interface enabled, bit 11: Interlock open, bit 10: Over temperature, bit 9: Reverse power limit, bit 8: Forward power limit, bit 6: MCG mode active, bit 5: load power leveling active, bit 4, External RF source active, bit 0: RF power on.

property dc_voltage

Get the DC voltage in volts.

property firmware_version

Get the UI-processor and RF-processor firmware version numbers.

property frequency

Get operating frequency in Hz.

property id

Get the device identification string.

property load_capacity

Control the percentage of full-scale value of the load capacity. It can be set only when manual_mode is True.

property manual_mode

Control the manual tuner mode.

property operation_mode

Control the operation mode.

ping()

Send a ping to the instrument.

property power

Get power readings for forward/reverse/load power in watts.

property power_limit

Get maximum power of the power supply.

property preset_slot

Control which preset slot will be used for auto-tune mode. Valid values are 0 to 9. 0 means no preset will be used

property pulse_params

Get pulse on/off time of the pulse waveform.

property ramp_rate

Control the ramp rate in watts/second.

property ramp_start_power

Control the ramp starting power in watts.

read()

Reads a response message from the instrument.

This method determines the length of the message from the automatically by reading the message header and also checks for a correct checksum.

Returns

the data fields

Return type

bytes

Raises

ValueError – if a checksum error is detected

release_control()

Release instrument control.

This will reset certain properties to safe defaults and disable the RF output.

request_control()

Request control of the instrument.

This is required to be able to set any properties.

property reverse_power_limit

Get maximum reverse power.

property rf_enabled

Control the RF output.

property serial

Get the serial number of the instrument.

property setpoint

Control the setpoint power level in watts.

property status

Get status field. The return value is represented by the IntFlag type Status.

property temperature

Get heat sink temperature in deg Celsius.

property tune_capacity

Control the percentage of full-scale value of the tune capacity. It can be set only when manual_mode is True.

property tuner

Get type of the used tuner.

values(command, cast=<class 'int'>, separator=', ', preprocess_reply=None, **kwargs)

Write a command to the instrument and return a list of formatted values from the result.

This is derived from CommonBase.values and adapted here for use with bytes communication messages (no str conversion and strip). It is implemented as a general method to allow using it equally in PresetChannel and CXN. See Github issue #784 for details.

Parameters
  • command – SCPI command to be sent to the instrument

  • separator – A separator character to split the string into a list

  • cast – A type to cast the result

  • preprocess_reply – optional callable used to preprocess values received from the instrument. The callable returns the processed string.

Returns

A list of the desired type, or strings where the casting fails

write(command)

Writes a command to the instrument and includes needed required header and address.

Parameters

command (str) – command to be sent to the instrument

class pymeasure.instruments.tcpowerconversion.tccxn.PresetChannel(parent, id)

Bases: Channel

property load_capacity

Control the percentage of full-scale value of the load capacity preset.

property tune_capacity

Control the percentage of full-scale value of the tune capacity preset.

values(command, cast=<class 'int'>, separator=', ', preprocess_reply=None, **kwargs)

Write a command to the instrument and return a list of formatted values from the result.

This is derived from CommonBase.values and adapted here for use with bytes communication messages (no str conversion and strip). It is implemented as a general method to allow using it equally in PresetChannel and CXN. See Github issue #784 for details.

Parameters
  • command – SCPI command to be sent to the instrument

  • separator – A separator character to split the string into a list

  • cast – A type to cast the result

  • preprocess_reply – optional callable used to preprocess values received from the instrument. The callable returns the processed string.

Returns

A list of the desired type, or strings where the casting fails