Cascade manipulator broken

[mihirt at stanford.edu]

Quoting "Deji A." <dejia at stanford.edu>:

>       What is the root cause of the broken manipulator so we can avoid
> this problem in the future. What needs to be done to avoid breaking
> the manipulator?

      Good question. Sorry I wasn't more clear.

      In this case, we determined that the issue is a wear-and-tear  
problem. Older users might recall that the Cascade used to have a  
shared set of probe tips - but due to frequent damage, each user was  
required to provide his/her own probe tips. So each user  
removes/inserts probe tips during their session. It is this continuous  
action that wears down the contacts inside the manipulator.

      There really isn't a way around this. We can return to a common  
set of probe tips to minimize wear, but that will result in damaged  
probe tips from careless users. Around and around we go...

      One thing that would help - from all users - is making sure that  
the stage and manipulators are clean *before and after* your session.  
Use wipes with a little bit of IPA to clean the surface and bottoms of  
the manipulators. This prevents vacuum problems.

      - Mihir