Operator's Manual
Issue 14
/
Mar 2016 / UMC0071
Mercury
iPS
©2016 Oxford Instruments NanoScience. All rights reserved.
Page
107
10 COMMAND REFERENCE GUIDE
10.1 Nomenclature used in this section
The following conventions are used in this document when listing SCPI commands:
Capital letters designate a keyword that must be entered literally (e.g. SET).
Capital letters in angle brackets designate a parameter that must be substituted by the required
value (e.g. <UID> might represent DB2, MB1 etc.).
Several words in square brackets, separated by vertical lines, indicate alternative values that a
parameter can take (e.g. [LIN | SPL | LAGR].
10.2 SCPI and legacy command sets
The iPS supports two separate sets of remote commands:
SCPI commands are based on the SCPI command set, although the iPS may not be fully
compliant with SCPI.
Legacy commands were used in previous power supply models (e.g. IPS120-10).
The user configures the iPS to use one set or the other.
It is recommended that new applications use the SCPI command set, as these commands
provide greater functionality. The legacy command set is provided so that the iPS is compatible
with any existing remote applications that have been written to drive earlier Oxford Instruments
equipment.
10.3 SCPI commands
This section specifies the command message format for communication using the SCPI derived
protocol. The Mercury instrument uses a proprietary defined command set which is similar in
architecture to the SCPI (Standard Commands for Programmable Instruments 1990
(IEEE 488.2)) command architecture but does not claim to fully support this architecture. Below
are examples of standard SCPI commands which are NOT supported:-
