Automation of dielectric breakdown testing

Electronic devices must not only meet performance specifications when new, but also over the intended lifetime of the part. Under operation, damage can accumulate in materials, decreasing performance or leading to gross failure. This project aims to automate the testing of dielectric coatings and semiconductor devices, creating a set of interchangeable boards that interface with an HP 4156A Semiconductor Parameter Analyzer to allow for the study of dielectric breakdown. The dielectric breakdown test is automatically controlled over a GPIB connection to the HP 4156A using PyVISA. This test setup will allow for fast and cheap testing of many different devices.