The Keithley 3706A 6-Slot Digital Multimeter/Switch System offers scalable, instrument grade switching and multi-channel measurement solutions that are optimized for automated testing of electronic products and components. The 3700A includes four versions of the 3706A system switch mainframe along with a growing family of plug-in switch and control cards. When the 3706A mainframe is ordered with the high performance multimeter, you receive a tightly integrated switch and measurement system that can meet the demanding application requirements in a functional test system or provide the flexibility needed in stand-alone data acquisition and measurement applications.

Maximizes System Control and Flexibility

To provide users with greater versatility when designing test systems, the 3700A mainframes are equipped with many standard features. For example, easy connectivity is supported with three remote interfaces: LXI/Ethernet, General Purpose Interface Bus (GPIB), and Universal Serial Bus (USB). Fourteen digital I/O lines are also included, which are programmable and can be used to control external devices such as component handlers or other instruments. Additionally, system control can be greatly enhanced by using our Test Script Processor (TSP) technology. This technology provides "smart" instruments with the ability to perform distributed processing and control at the instrument level versus a central PC.

High Quality Switching at a Value Price

The 3700A builds upon Keithley's tradition of producing innovative, high quality, precise signal switching. This series offers a growing family of high density and general purpose plug-in cards that accommodates a broad range of signals at very competitive pricing. The 3700A system supports applications as diverse as design validation, accelerated stress testing, data acquisition, and functional testing.

3706A Mainframe

The 3700A system includes the base 3706A system switch/multimeter mainframe with three options for added flexibility. This mainframe contains six slots for plug-in cards in a compact 2U high (3.5 inches/89mm) enclosure that easily accommodates the needs of medium to high channel count applications. When fully loaded, a mainframe can support up to 576 two-wire multiplexer channels or 2,688 one-pole matrix crosspoints for unrivaled density and economical per channel costs.

High Performance, 7 1/2-digit Multimeter (DMM)

The high performance multimeter option provides up to 7 1/2-digit measurements, offering 26-bit resolution to support your ever-increasing test accuracy requirements. This flexible resolution supplies a DC reading rate from >14,000 readings/second at 3 1/2 digits to 60 readings/second at 7 1/2 digits to accommodate a greater span of applications. The multimeter does not use a card slot, so you maintain all six slots in your mainframe. In addition, the multimeter is wired to the mainframe's analog backplane, ensuring a high quality signal path from each card channel to the multimeter.

The multimeter supports 13 built-in measurement functions, including: DCV, ACV, DCI, ACI, frequency, period, two-wire ohms, four-wire ohms, three-wire RTD temperature, four-wire RTD temperature, thermocouple temperature, thermistor temperature, and continuity. In addition, the multimeter offers extended low ohms (1W) and low current (10μA) ranges. In-rack calibration is supported, which reduces both maintenance and calibration time.

TSP Distributed Control Increases Test Speed and Lowers Test Cost

TSP technology enhances instrument control by allowing users the choice of using standard PC control or of creating embedded test scripts that are executed on microprocessors within the instrument. By using TSP test scripts instead of a PC for instrument control, you avoid communication delays between the PC controller and instrument, which results in improved test throughput. Test scripts can contain math and decision-making rules that further reduce the interaction between a host PC and the instrument.

This form of distributed control supports the autonomous operation of individual instruments or groups of instruments and can possibly remove the need for a high level PC controller, which lowers test and ownership costs. This is the same proven TSP technology found in our innovative Series 2600B System SourceMeter SMU instruments.

TSP-Link Technology for Easy and Seamless System Coordination and Expansion

If your channel density requirements grow or if you need to process more signal types, use TSP-Link Technology to expand your system. The TSPLink master/slave connection offers easy system expansion between 3700A mainframes. You can also use TSP-Link Technology to connect to other TSP-Link enabled instruments such as Series 2600B SourceMeter SMU instruments. Everything connected with TSP-Link can be controlled by the master unit, just as if they were all housed in the same chassis.

This high speed system expansion interface lets users avoid the complex and time consuming task of expanding their remote interfaces to another mainframe. There is no need to add external triggers and remote communication cables to individual instruments, since all TSP-Link connected devices can be controlled from a single master unit.

Test Script Builder Software Suite

Test Script Builder is a software tool that is provided with all 3700A instruments to help users easily create, modify, debug, and store TSP test scripts. It supplies a project/file manager window to store and organize test scripts, a text-sensitive program editor to create and modify test TSP code, and an immediate instrument control window to send Ethernet, GPIB, and USB commands and to receive data from the instrument. The immediate window also allows users to see the output of a given test script and simplifies debugging.

Transportable Memory, USB 2.0 Device Port

All 3706A mainframes contain a USB device port for easy transfer of readings, configurations, and test scripts to memory sticks. This port, which is located on the front panel, provides you with easy access to and portability of measurement results. Simply plug in a memory stick and, with a few simple keystrokes, gain access to virtually unlimited memory storage. Additional capabilities include: saving and recalling system configurations and storage for TSP scripts.

Embedded Web Server

The built-in Web interface offers a quick and easy method to control and analyze measurement results. Interactive schematics of each card in the mainframe support point-and-click control for opening and closing switches. A scan list builder is provided to guide users through the requirements of a scan list (such as trigger and looping definitions) for more advanced applications. When the mainframe is ordered with the multimeter, additional Web pages are included for measurement configuration and viewing, including a graphing toolkit.