ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on scientific instruments for both laboratories and high-tech manufacturing. These instruments and systems address manufacturing tests of electronics, process monitors, and scientific and engineering research. Figure 6.1 shows some of these products. Keithley Instruments, Inc., of Cleveland, OH, offers about 500 products in
dozens of markets. Keithley’s primary markets for test equipment [1]:
Manufacturing production test for electronic components Testing flat panel displays and optoelectronics Accurate, very sensitive, low-level measurements for research into superconductivity, semiconductors, metals, polymers, and insulators
Device characterization for semiconductor wafer processing Testing telecommunications devices such as cell phones and digital switch systems
Joseph Keithley founded the company in 1946 in a small workshop in Cleveland, OH. Its products have evolved and multiplied in the arena of electronic test, measurement, and data acquisition for engineers and scientists. The company has grown into an international concern with sales worldwide [1].