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Probing to the limits
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12/09/2006
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They are a crucial link in the measurement chain, affecting measurement results and the circuit under test. Yet probes traditionally haven’t garnered too much attention, nor too much care.
However, having made the transition from parallel to serial measurement, physical probes have undergone significant changes in recent years. As such, designers have to give more consideration to probe choice and care.
Comments Trevor Smith, Tektronix’ European market development manager for oscilloscopes: “The applications that are proving most demanding now are high speed data applications. Mbit/s used to be where we were at, but now we are in the 4, 6, 10Gbit/s realm.” For, just as an oscilloscope should have adequate bandwidth headroom above the signal speeds of the device under test (DUT), so it is generally suggested that the probe should either have the same bandwidth or be even faster than your scope.
The same trends apply to logic analyser probes. Notes Brad Friendan from Agilent’s DVD group: “Signal speed (bandwidth), the need to work with low voltage differential signals and the idea of reliability are important, especially for a logic check. Another major factor is the ability to probe very small geometries – you need some mechanism to attach the probe when the devices are shrinking.”
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Author
Vanessa Knivett
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