2600AS-901-01 Rev. B / September 2008 Return to Section Topics 19-11
Series 2600A System SourceMeter® Instruments Reference Manual Section 19: Remote Commands
print(reading)
Output: 2.360000e+00
The above output indicates that the voltage reading is 2.36V.
For a function that returns one value, the function call can be used in an expression. For example:
if smua.measure.v() > 5 then
...
end
Attributes
An attribute is a characteristic of an instrument feature or operation. For example, some
characteristics of a SMU source include the source function, range and output level.
Assigning a value to an attribute
An attribute-based command can be used to assign a new value to an attribute. For many
attributes, the value can be in the form of a discrete number or a predefined identifier. For
example, filter type is an attribute. The moving average filter is selected by assigning either of the
following values to the attribute:
0 or smuX.FILTER_MOVING_AVG.
Either of the following command messages will configure SMU A for the moving average filter:
smua.measure.filter.type = 0
smua.measure.filter.type = smua.FILTER_MOVING_AVG
Some attributes can take any numeric value that is within a valid range. For example, the Model
2601A/2602A voltage source can be set from -40.4V to +40.4V, while the Model 2611A/2612A
voltage source can be set from -202V to +202V. The following command message sets the SMU A
source level to 1.53V:
smua.source.levelv = 1.53
Reading an attribute
Reading an attribute is accomplished by passing it to a function call as a parameter or by
assigning it to another variable.
Parameter passing example: The following command reads the filter type for SMU A by passing
the attribute to the
print function, which outputs a value:
print(smua.measure.filter.type)
Output: 0.000000e+00
The above output indicates that the moving average filter is selected.
Variable assignment example: The following command reads the filter type by assigning the
attribute to a variable named
filtertype:
filtertype = smua.measure.filter.type
Syntax rules
• Commands for functions and attributes are case sensitive. As a general rule, all function
and attribute names must be in lower case, while parameters use a combination of lower
and upper case characters. Upper case characters are required for attribute constants.
Example:
smua.source.func = smua.OUTPUT_DCVOLTS
In the above command to select the volts source function, OUTPUT_DCVOLTS is the attribute
constant.