Quantum Design Heat Capacity Option Version 3.8.6 About This File: This file is intended to provide release information and documentation regarding the Heat Capacity Option Release. Table of Contents 1. Installation 2. Release Notes 1. Installation Insert the Heat Capacity Option CD. From the start menu select Run... and enter the file name: D:\HeatCap\Disk1\Setup Press OK to start the installation process. Note 1: MultiVu must be installed prior to installation of the Heat Capacity Option. Installation produces and error and exits. Note 2: this installation will replace any existing installation of the Heat Capacity Option software without regard to creation date or version. Note 3: this installation will not replace any existing configuration or calibration files. You will be warned if the installation detects configuration or calibration files on the installation CD. 2. Release Notes --- Release 3.8.6 Differences between version 3.8.6.1 and 3.8.5.0 Changed the formatting and file naming convention for the messages.txt and errors.txt files. Within these files, the timestamp is always accompanied by a date now. File naming convention is changed too. By default now, files are numbered as messages1.txt, messages2.txt, etc. (there no more .tx1, .tx2, .tx3). The same is true for the Errors files. Furthermore, we only switch to a new file when the current file too large (set by ini param: MaximumMessagesFileLengthBytes=200000 bytes by default) as determined when the option is activated. This is unlike before when a new file was initialized every time the option was activated, regardless of size. The file numbers are incremented each time a new file is initialized. The files are never renumbered. Instead the file with the smallest number is deleted. The number of files retained is set by the ini param: MaximumMessagesFilesToKeep = 10, by default. --- Release 3.8.5.0 Differences between version 3.8.5.0 Fixed bug where Field=NAN in the .raw file would cause the description field to show an unhelpful error message in the post processing form. It is more helpful now. Also, changed so that for Dynacool, a Field=NaN will be handled as zero field. changed DRPuck.pkd so that resistance value of thermometer can be up to 2400 ohms instead of up to 2300 ohms. Modified calculation for "retry if time-constant changes more than" so that the percentage represents a fraction of the current measured time constant instead of a fraction of the most recent measured time constant. Modified the puck install wizard so that the vent operation will timeout in 10 minutes and simply seal the sample chamber. The 10 minutes can be changed with Ini param [General] InstallTimeoutSecs. Changed the value for LowTempTimeOutSeconds in the Standard.Ini file to be 900 seconds instead of 3600. This causes pass 1 to timeout on the last temperature so that the pot does not go dry before the calibration point is obtained. Added a validation test to check field spacing whenever a calibration is loaded. This checks to make sure there are no field calibrations that are any closer together than 10 Oe. It displays an error with instructions when they are too close. Added a stern warning to the pass2 dialog to warn against overwriting the existing pass2 data when there is already pass 2 data present. Added ability to change the maximum permitted measurement time for HC measurements to a value larger than 1000 seconds by including an entry in the [General] section of the Ini file: MaxAllowedMeasurementTime=NNNN Also added warning messages and instructions if a user explicitly chooses a measurement time in seconds that is larger than this value. --- Release 3.8.2.2 Differences between version 3.8.1.0 and 3.8.2.2 Fixed memory leak in the post processing form that occurred when data is refresh with form open. Added a periodic (5 min) beep to the install wizard that beeps as long as the sample chamber is venting. Fixed problems with starting the option without a CAN module. added MaxTempRate, and MinTempRate parameters to ini files. This is to contrain the rate that is used when new temperature set points occur. Some reliquefier systems are not able to keep up with fast temperature sweep. Added range tests and error handling for thermometer and heater resistance values during measurements to detect short or open circuits during a measurement. Fixed problem were sample properties were not remembered from a previously open data file. Now, you can start a new data file that uses the sample properties of a previous data file by first appending to the old data file, then opening a new data file. --- Release 3.8.1.2 Differences between version 3.8.0.7 and 3.8.1.2 Fixed several bugs causing a crash when deactivating the option. --- Release 3.8.0.7 Differences between version 3.6.4.1 to 3.8.0.7 Added greatly improved slope and dual-slope analysis technique to post processing form for analyzing .raw data files. Made option compatible with Dynacool. Fixed bug in status code that was affecting Dynacool and VersaLab. Added multi-threading fix and better cleanup of objects to eliminate access violations, especially when closing the option. --- Release 3.6.4.1 Differences between version 3.6.3.3 and 3.6.4.1 Removed timeout for pass 2. This was causing a problem with calibrations. Apparently it takes a while to reach the lowest temperature on pass 2 sometimes. This was resulting in a skipped measurement. Added description of running macro to log file and message box. --- Release 3.6.3.3 Differences between version 3.6.1.7 and 3.6.3.3 Removed temperature time-out (for lack of stability) for the first temperature in a HC, addenda, or pass-2 measurement. --- Release 3.6.1.7 Differences between version 3.6.0.0 and 3.6.1.7 Fixed bug with addenda append function where irregular addenda spacing caused large interpolation "loops". Added "Skip" button on measurement status form. Clicking it will cause a wait operation to be skipped prior to the current measurement. Modified to dynamically load PPMSCOMM.dll only for GPIB-based systems. Relaxed FETMaxVoltageOffset threshold in module self-test for non-DR systems. Modified wizard so that the error message for incompatible board type is shown with the same message that appears in the Calibration Files dialog. Fixed "invalid class" error in the post processing dialog. Added detection and better error handling for unplugged cables. --- Release 3.6.0.0 Differences between version 3.5.5.2 and 3.6.0.0 Modified SW for compatability with the VersaLab version of MultiVu. Versalab puck calibration performed with the wizard will skip the warmup step between pass 1 and pass 2. Improved handling of time-constants when a bad measurement occurs. Now a single measurement will never result in a time-constant changing more than a factor of 5. This makes it less like that one bad measurement will cause a jump to 1000 second time constant. Added a comment column to the main data file. Now whenever there is an error, an entry is added. Also, a special comment containing the calibration file name and parameters is added to the datafile if the cal file is changed. This cal file comment is only added when the cal file is changed, or if it is a new data file. The datafile format version has been updated, so that append operations to older .dat files will not work. Added advance option to the calibration files dialog to allow down-grading of a calibration file format from Rev 2 to Rev 1 (for use with version 2.7 of the software). This is available only for DSP HW types. Moved the various advanced file operation from the Advanced menu to an advanced button on the calibration files dialog. Added a temperature stability time-out so that the system will not hang on a single temperature forever. This is now the default behavior. This can be disabled with Ini entry [TemperatureControl]:DisableTemperatureStabilityTimeout=1. For example, on a standard system, lack of temperature stability for more than 2 hours will cause the current temperature to be skipped. Added "Append to Active Addenda Table" checkbox to the advanced page of the "Create New Addenda Heat Capacity Table" command. When checked, new addenda temperature acquired by the command will be appended to the current addenda table. It will only append values outside the current temperature range of the existing table. This facility allows one to create an addenda table with new temperature spacings. For example, to build an addenda table to properly resolve the heat capacity variations in N-grease between 250 and 300 K, one could acquire a new addenda table with widely spaced temperature from 2 to 250 K, then append fine spaced points between 250 and 300 K to the first addenda table, and again append broadly spaced points at temperature above 300 K to the same addenda table. Added warning whenever a cal file is loaded and the corresponding .pkd file is not present. --- Release 3.5.5.2 Differences between beta 3.5.4.1 and 3.5.5.2 Added an integrity check to the standard smoothing algorithm to warn of inconsistencies in the calibration tables prior to performing the smoothing operations. Changed the way field calibrations are stored and smoothed. Now the smoothing operation will pad-out the calibration tables for a given field so that there is one MR calibration data point for every zero field calibration point. This substantially improves the smoothness of the crossover from low temperatures to high temperatures. Previously, there tended to be a jump in the calibration near 20 K. For standard puck types, removed the ability to specify a temperature other than zero for the minimum temperature in the "Calibrate Thermometer in Magnetic Field dialog". The smoothing algorithms are not safe when using a different setting. --- Release 3.5.4.1 Differences between 3.5.3.3 and 3.5.4.1 Fixed bug in pass 1 of calibration that could result in a corrupt calibration if the slope is the thermometer curve is too steep. Also added some more error checking to flag potentially corrupt calibration file. --- Release 3.5.3.3 Differences between beta 3.5.2.5 and 3.5.3.3 Fixed excessive generation of error message: "011-Ranging Error: Cannot Increase Thermometer ..." Fixed display in Post Processing form so that the displayed heat capacity calculation uses mean temperature of trace instead of the average of the min and max. This made the values inconsistent with the ones in the normal data file, especially for small heat capacities. --- Release 3.5.2.5 Differences between beta 3.5.1.7 and 3.5.2.5 Fixed access violations that occured when option was deactivated. Fixed problem with not being able to pause or abort program when a particular autoranging error occurs. Changed to dynamically load cancomm.dll only when needed. For DSP systems, it is no longer necessary to install the CAN stack. Added improved graph refreshing in post processing dialog for future versions of MultiVu. The change will maintain zoom level on refreshed graphs. Fixed bug in calibration smoothing algorithm that caused a failure when field calibrating a calorimeter. Added warning in case someone tried to create an MR calibration and the system or He3 does not have a valid MR calibration table. Changed the statistics that are generated after a calibration to be more useful. Changed Measurement Status form to always open when a new message appears in the list box. Now suppressing certain informational and bogus CAN alarm messages. --- Release 3.5.1.7 Differences between beta 3.5.0.15 and 3.5.1.1 Added the command Advanced>>Create Standard Smoothed Version of Active Calibration File... in the Calibration Files dialog. It applies smoothing to the current calibration file, and creates a new .cal file, as well as a comparison .dat file with a set of metrics in the header. Added extensive slope smoothing analysis functions to the Advanced menu of the Calibration Files dialog. Changed the thermometer smoothing code to use a more stable smoothing algorithm and validated the smoothness against several .cal files. Fixed bug that cause a malformed current-code table during calibration. It would point to a thermometer calibration with less than three entries. This cause the bottom-most temperature to be skipped during pass 2 of the calibration. Also, modified the function which creates the current-code table so it tends to use higher thermometer excitations where appropriate. --- Release 3.5.0.15 Differences between beta 3.5.0.5 and 3.5.0.15 Changed the exception handling for highvac failure to retry high vac instead of aborting. Made 2 tau the default measurement time. Also fixed bug causing macro description to incorrectly show meas time in seconds instead of taus. Fixed a badly broken addenda offset functionality Added on exception handler which uses the system temperature if there's a failure to measure resistance. This was to make the "Cannot Increase Thermometer Current Range Further" error non fatal. Modified so that you can open a .raw file without the corresponding .dat file. When the raw data browser form is opened, a file open dialog appears. Fixed bug that would cause a crash at the end of each MR cal field. Fixed "Range Error" startup bug. This was occuring when the total number of calibration tables exceeded 100. I upped it to 1000 and also added a sensible message. --- Release 3.5.0.5 Differences between beta 3.2.1.2 and 3.5.0.3 Changed install wizard so expected values from the puck test are pulled from pkd if off of table. This is so DR addenda and HC measurements will show something in the expected fields rather than blank. Fixed so that the lowest temperature in a calibration will properly use the LowTempTimeOutSeconds and LowTempTimeOutThreshold parameters in the pkd file. Before it was timing out after a hard-coded 3600 seconds on the first datapoint. Made the install wizard so it is not Modal. Fixed bug where the Save As command in the Calibration Files Dialog only saved the current addenda. Added INI variable DisableMainRawFileOutput. Setting to 1 will cause the trace data to not be written to the main .raw file. However, the file will still be created and headers written. Added "Cycle Temperature Of Sample" sequence measurement command. Added MeasureCycleTempResistance & CycleTempTemperature to pkd file and CycleTempTemperature and CycleTempResistance to cal file. Added “Rebuild Curr Code Table” to the Advanced table operations menu. Rewrote thermometer table smoothing algorithm to smooth the tables without systematically shifting the RvsT slope. Made the calibration temperature spacing more uniform in the pkd files. Added the ability to edit the thermometer calibration tables as a single table. This is to facilitate outboard manipulation of the calibration tables to achieve smoothing or whatever. There is a separate edit/view for each different field. When the editing is done, the results are pasted back into the CalEdit form and the results are remapped to all the appropriate ThRes tables. Added advance parameter (AllowTCLessThanAddendaTC) to HC vs Temp command to override tendency to toss measurements when they would result in a negative HC. --- Release 3.2.1.2 Differences between beta 3.0.2.6 and 3.2.0.7 Major rework of the measurement retry code. It is supposed to fix the finding of initial timeconstant when thermal contact is poor. It will increase the starting timeconstant by a factor of 10 if it fails during a sample measurement. Fixed edit checking in Field Calibration Dialog so 0K is a valid lower limit. Added extensive calibration table editing functions under the Advanced menu in the Calorimeter Files dialog. This includes the ability to delete magnetic field calibration data in a cal file. Added a .raw data file that is always opened when a standard .dat file is opened. All raw data traces and fit information is now stored in this new .raw file. Made the temperature calibration averaging time a function of excitation current, so that DR-temperature calibrations are long enough to not be noise limited. Added fast burst data logging to the Thermometer Diagnostics/Measurement Functions dialog (visible on Diagnostics tab when started in Diagnostics mode). Add Raw Data File Viewing and Post Processing button and dialog to the Files tab. This new dialog will read and post-process relaxation-curve data from the .raw file. This was specifically designed for analyzing 1st-order transition data using a slope method. Added word-wrapping on the error and message lists, so messages are readable. Added an Edit tab to the Calibration Table Edit dialog to more easily modify addenda and calibration data. Made this and also the import and export functions available outside of Diagnostics mode. Modified the Heat Capacity vs Temperature dialog Advanced tab to include checkbox "When possible, then use the TC from previous measurement command". When checked the system use the memorized time constant from the previous measurement if this is not the first measurement since the option was activated. This is helpful for rapidly measuring HC versus Field. Modified the Heat Capacity vs Temperature dialog, Advanced tab, with radio buttons "Time constants" and "Seconds" in the Relaxation Measurement grouping to support fixed-time measurements, where all measurements are performed with the same measurement time. Modified the Heat Capacity vs Temperature dialog, Setup tab with "Temperature Control" grouping to provide the "Measure at Current Temperature" option. Changed default Puck Install Wizard behavior so it no longer automatically shuts down the PPMS when idle for more than an hour. --- Release 3.0.0 Added: 1) Measurements using the Dilution Refrigerator. --- Release 2.7.2 Build 2a Fixed: 1) Heat Capacity Option could not be uninstalled from the Control Panel. --- Release 2.7.2 Build 2 Fixed: 1) Puck test from previous version falied to display expected values. --- Release 2.7.2 Build 1 Fixed: 1) Fixed crash caused by read-only HeatCap.ini file when the Option is deactivated. 2) Eliminated model 6000 double beep on startup. Changed: 1) Changed the puck test so that puck test is faster and puts up a more descriptive dialog when the puck thermometer is not plugged in. --- Release 2.7.1 Build 0 Fixed: 1) Changes implemented in previous release caused fitting times (after measurements) to be unecessarily delayed by approximately 30 sec or more. Fitting delay has been eliminated and other unnecessary delays related to calibration have been removed. --- Release 2.7.0 Build 7 Fixed: 1) Software was calculating the max allowed delta T incorrectly. This fix requires new Standard.pkd and He3puck.pkd files to be distributed with the software, with MaximumHeaterCurrent = 0.003. --- Release 2.7.0 Build 6 Changed: 1) Changed timeout on GPIB error to 10 seconds, to correspond with default timeout of 10 seconds in MultiVu. --- Release 2.7.0 Build 5 Fixed: 1) Polling loops while waiting for temp to be stable (and other operations) that caused CPU usage to reach 100%, blocking other apps (like He-3) from access, causing intermittent crashes. 2) Fixed bug associated with only calibrating He3 pucks down to 1.8K and also setting bad temperatures. A warning will come up if the user tries to begin a set of temperatures that sets out-of-rage temps, allowing the user to abort, retry, or ignore. Added: 1) Improved holes in the exception handling so that exceptions will be handled properly. Recoverable errors will now be retried instead of aborting whole run. 2) Added the ability for the software to reset the DSP when DSP exceptions are raised. The DSP is reset, followed by a one minute pause. 3) Added the ability to retry 5 times on GPIB errors, for both M6000 and M6500 Option box communications. There is a 10 sec pause between tries. GPIB errors are now logged to PPMS MVu event log. After 5 tries, an exception is raised. Changed: 1) Modified option controller GPIB communications to use OptiComm.dll --- RELEASE VERSION 2.6.0 build 1 Fixed: 1) A range check error would occur when configuring sample properties. --- RELEASE VERSION 2.6.0 build 0 Fixed: 1) Report excessive DSP checksum failures. Added: 1) Check for smoothing errors that exceed 0.5% for the thermometers and the heater, and 5% for the wire conductance. 2) Verify the puck calibration whenever the He3 probe is inserted. --- fixed in Release 2.5.6 Build 8 Random error message when making a measurement. --- fixed in Release 2.5.6 Build 7 Removed potential inaccuracies in Field correction table. Removed auto-refresh from the hardware control dialog. --- fixed in Release 2.5.6 Build 6 When calculated tau1 is less than allowable value in addended, change message from "Corrected TC from to " to warning message "Warning: Measured time constant less than time constant calculated from addenda table. Changing time constant to addenda table value" Added warning dialogs to HeatCap vs. Temperature 1) "PPMS temperature limits cover insufficient range for this measurement" 2) "Current addenda table covers insufficient range for this measurement" 3) "Invalid number of temperature set points" --- fixed in Release 2.5.6 Build 5 Use the system and addenda temperature limits to validate the temperature ranges on the Heat Capacity vs. Temperature dialog. Added a backup feature for the Raw and Fit files using the PreserveRawFiles=1 parameter in the INI file General section. Fixed error messages when running Heat Capacity measurements in simulation mode. Reduce temperature wait time in simulation mode Include timestamp in datafile when running Heat Capacity measurements in simulation mode Changed warning "Actual time-const was X% of expected value. Discarding and repeating this measurement" to "Actual time-const was X% of expected value. Setting measurement time to Tau1 from the addenda table". --- fixed in Release 2.5.6 Build 4 Changed TempRise description in the Fit file to "Temperature rise of sample in Kelvin". --- fixed in Release 2.5.6 Build 3 Added the parameter WriteSingleTauFits to the General section of the initialization file. When non-zero, an extra record containing the results of the single tau fit is written to the datafile. Add an Extra Wait Time input box to the Measurement Stability options in the Heat Capacity measurement and in the Addenda Calibration measurement. Correctly compute the heat capacity of the platform in the presence of a sample that is a power source. Try a slightly higher temperature if system fails to stabilize at lowest temperature during calibration. Prevent occasional GPIB error message when downloading temperature calibrations. Correctly test for PPMS minimum and maximum temperatures when loading tables and addenda. Added a debug trace of the GPIB communcations. [General] EnableDebugTrace =1 PPMS; =2 Heat Capacity module; =3 both Prevent occasional MultiVu lockup when activating option and there is a failure connecting to the Heat Capacity module. Turn off GPIB autoserial polling when activating option. Load factory defaults for simulation mode. Use default user units if none specified in the INI file. --- fixed in Release 2.5.6 Build 2 Turn down the thermometer drive when after installation, calibration or measurement. Hardware control wizard will update as the hardware status updates. --- fixed in Release 2.5.6 Build 1 Add serialization for to the calibration (hwc) file. A new calibration file named HeatCap-xxx.hwc (where xxx is the serial number in the HWC file) is created from the existing calibration file. The INI file is updated to refer to the new calibration file. The serial number is also displayed in the About box. Reset the thermometer excitation to the lowest value after a measurement is taken. Remove usage of calibration files for simulation mode. Enable the one tau / two tau fitting check box. Add SIM to the control center title when in simulation mode. Fix crash when the option is deactivated. Fix crash which occured if a bad measurement caused a negative Debye temperature to be calculated. --- fixed in Beta 2.5.5 Reset DSP and retry resistor calibration measurement when a DSP error occurs. Use default datafile "TempCal/Default.dat" during calibration when no datafile has been specified. --- fixed in Beta 2.5.4 Heat capacity had to be installed in default directory to run. --- fixed in Beta 2.5.3 Added online help Added APPNAME + version info to datafile Use the platform temperature, not the system temperature when determining the right tables to use. --- fixed in Beta 2.5.2 Calibration will sometimes stop without any error message. --- fixed in Beta 2.5.1a Added an online manual to the HeatCap/System directory. The manual file name is HeatCap.chm and uses the system on-line help browser for viewing. --- fixed in Beta 2.5 --- Integration into PPMS MultiVu as an Installable Option. Field correction for thermometers --- fixed in Beta 2.06 --- Added capabilities for use with the Helium-3 option, including support for variable thermometer excitation voltages. Will properly terminate when thermometer resistance becomes too large. Added "Advanced" page to the addenda and HC measurement dialogs. eliminated time-constant extrapolations during addenda and HC measurements. The eliminates oscillations in HC versus temperature curves when a lot of grease is used. Redesigned the installation wizards to better handle the helium-3 probe. Redesigned the puck calibration procedure to calibrate the wire conductance by performing addenda measurements rather than by measuring static temperature offsets. Broke the calibration into two distinct passes to handle helium-3 calibration and improve the accuracy of the standard puck calibration. --- fixed in Beta 1.54 --- Updated for PPMS MultiVu Release 1.0 --- fixed in Beta 1.53 --- Fixed problem which cause advisories to be ignored after aborting a puck calibration procedure. --- fixed in Beta 1.52 --- Corrected problem which caused excessive iterations on measurements with time-constants which are excessively large or small. Fixed puck calibration procedure by putting a delay after the shutdown command. The model 6000 requires a resting period after a shutdown command before temperature can be read. --- fixed in Beta 1.50 --- The tau2 fitting algorithm has been improved. It is now much less likely to toggle sporadically between successfully finding a tau2 fit and not finding a tau2 fit. If it fails to converge to a tau2 fit, it repeats the fitting procedure using the previous successful tau2-fit parameters as starting values. This will be indicated by two "Fitting..." messages in a row in the status display. Added the fields "Temp Squared (K^2)" and "Samp HC/Temp(µJ/K/K)" to the data file.