Tektronix Claims World’s Fastest Oscilloscopes Enhanced for 3rd Generation Serial Data Analysis

In addition, new upgrade options via the Tektronix SpeedBooster upgrade program, enable “B” series customers to upgrade their bandwidth from 4 GHz to 6, 8, 12.5, 16 and ultimately to 20 GHz. This enables engineers to purchase what they need today, and easily increase the bandwidth of their instrument as test requirements change in the future – protecting their initial investment.

New generations of consumer, computing and communications technology use faster and wider information buses and interconnects. High performance oscilloscopes are required to capture the frequency harmonics of high-speed signals to make accurate and repeatable measurements. The DPO/DSA70000B Series oscilloscopes provide support on all channels simultaneously for high bandwidth, deep memory, fast sample rate, and fast waveform capture rate. The models can be used to debug signals running up to 12Gb/s on each of four lanes, making them ideal for design engineers developing and testing multi-lane, high-speed serial data applications including PCI-Express 3, SATA 6Gb/s, SuperSpeed USB, HDMI, DisplayPort and Ethernet.

The enhanced Tektronix DSA70000B series oscilloscope is ideal for bench testing emerging multi-lane 8Gb/s and 10Gb/s serial data signals. said Mark Marlett SERDES Architect, Xilinx Corporation. With its low noise floor, multi-lane capacity, and performance at 20GHz, I'm able to quickly and confidently analyze my multi-lane SERDES for these next generation serial signals.

The DPO/DSA70000B Series oscilloscopes provide scalable performance with 4, 6, 8, 12.5, 16, and 20 GHz models. This level of performance is necessary for testing high-speed technologies. The 20GHz DSA72004B provides 5th harmonic measurements on signals running up to 8 Gb/s and 3rd harmonic measurements for data rates up to 12Gb/s. This performance satisfies the signal integrity measurement and compliance requirements of the latest 3rd generation serial bus architectures. The FastAcq acquisition mode provides a capture rate greater than 300,000 waveforms per second – about 100 times faster than competing alternative - delivering both critical insight into signal behavior and in-depth analysis.

The DPO/DSA70000B Series maximize design margins through the industry’s best signal integrity and signal fidelity. Signal integrity is assured through end-to-end bandwidth from the probe tip to the oscilloscope using Tektronix TriModeTM Probes. With these matching probes, customers obtain full system bandwidth from the probe tip. Signal fidelity is achieved through the industry's lowest noise floor, the industry’s flattest frequency response, lowest jitter measurement floor, and lowest trigger jitter. Vertical noise performance has improved over previous models by 1dB to 2dB for all vertical settings. The resulting signal fidelity is again setting a new record in the industry and ensures measurement accuracy, even for the most demanding applications.

“Market demands drive faster performance and exacting precision. The new DPO/DSA70000B Series provide superior performance where it counts with an unprecedented combination of banner specifications and analysis capabilities,” said Brian Reich, vice president, Performance Oscilloscopes, Tektronix. “The new models offer industry-best signal fidelity, high sample rate, the lowest vertical noise and the flattest frequency response. They are ideal for high-speed serial data and other demanding applications.”

The new DSA70000B models provide hardware-based real-time serial pattern triggering up to 5Gb/s for NRZ and 8b/10b serial streams. This hardware trigger capability guarantees that the very first occurrence of a specified bit sequence on a data bus will be captured, as opposed to competing approaches which attempt to find the pattern using a post-processing activity after the acquisition is complete (possibly requiring many acquisitions to find the desired pattern). The hardware-based pattern trigger, along with the Protocol Trigger and Decode application, saves time when performing debugging and diagnostic work on new high-speed standards such as 5Gb/s SuperSpeed USB.

Also announced today (see separate press release), the P7500 TriMode probe family now offers performance probes for 4, 6, and 8 GHz in addition to the previously available industry setting benchmark ultra-performance probes at 13, 16 and 20 GHz. The P7500 TriMode Series allows customers to quickly and easily switch between high-speed serial differential, single-ended, and common mode measurements at the push of a button. No reconfiguration of probe connections to the DUT (Device Under Test) is required. All TriMode probes share an expanded set of common connectivity accessories. Accessories include mobile probing for handheld and fixtured applications, new high performance and low cost detachable solder in connections which are ideal for probing memory devices, and extended length/high temperature probing solutions to address extreme environmental testing. Customers can now choose the price/performance and application combination that best meets their needs.

Tektronix also offers a broad range of software packages for high-speed serial data design debug and compliance verification. This includes DPOJET for jitter and timing analysis, Serial Data Link Analysis (SDLA) for testing transmitter, interconnects and receivers, and standard-specific packages for DDR, DisplayPort, PCI-Express, USB, HDMI, SATA, Ethernet, Fibre Channel and others.