Today, Tektronix, i.e., Tek, releases its high-performance oscilloscope: The 7 Series digital phosphor oscilloscope (DPO) (Figure 1).
Figure 1 The 7 Series DPO is engineered for a low SNR, ENOB, throughput, and user-friendly touchscreen interface. Source: Tektronix
In a conversation with Tektronix’s Tim Bieber, Principal Product Planner, described the motivation for the new series, “Every 10 to 15 years, we have to replatform instruments because parts get old and the technology moves forward.” This scope is a direct response to the demand after conjoint analysis, or market research that Tek has done over the years with their established customer base.
A user-friendly, high-performance Tek scope
The 7 series DPO oscilloscope is the high-performance version of the 2 through 6 series of MSOs, where each series is optimized for different performance capabilities and price points (Figure 2). The unifying factor across this entire portfolio is the user interface (UI) and TekScope PC analysis software developed over a decade ago that allows for remote access to the benchtop instrument as well as offline analysis.
Figure 2 The 2 through 7 Series of Tektronix scopes, all using the same UI and analysis software. Source: Tektronix
“There are customers that want the raw data and don’t do anything with it, but there are other customers that need fairly complex measurements,” said Bieber when highlighting the importance of the analysis software piece of the modern oscilloscope puzzle, “For example, PCIe’s latest generation electrical spec is about 1000 pages long and there’s a couple chapters that go through all the measurements. Very few customers will want to go and develop all these measurements, so they look to the scope vendor to develop that, and we’ve had a package that we’ve had for 20 years.”
Specifications
Table 1 offers a comparison of the new 7 Series DPO and the Tek DPO70000 oscilloscopes. The 7 Series DPO is a new kind of scope, engineered for signal clarity through a high ENOB and low noise floor as opposed to only optimizing bandwidth. It utilizes “TekConnect” channels to provide an analog bandwidth ranging from DC to 25 GHz.
DPO70000 series in particular also offers an Asynchronous Time Interleaving (ATI) architecture, which provides a considerably larger bandwidth via 1.85 mm connectors. Bieber clarified why ATI was not included in the 7 Series DPO, stating that for the current models, which range from DC to 25 GHz, only TekConnect channels are necessary. He added that future 7 Series models will incorporate higher bandwidth connectors, such as 1.85 mm connectors.
7 Series DPO | DPO70000 | ||
Channel type | TekConnect channels | TekConnect channels | ATI channels |
Number of channels | 4 analog | 2 to 8 analog | 1 to 2 analog |
ADC | 10-bit | 8-bit | 8-bit |
ENOB (500 mV full scale, signal 90% of full scale) | 7.5 bits at 8 GHz to 6.5 bits at 25 GHz | 5.1 bits at 8 MHz and 4.8 bits at 25 GHz (for 33 GHz, 100 GS/s) | 4.9 bits at ~8 GHz and 4.6 bits at ~25 GHz (for 70 GHz, 200 GS/s ATI channel) |
Analog bandwidth | 8 GHz to 25 GHz (customer upgradeable) | 13 to 33 GHz | 50 to 70 GHz |
Sample rate per channel | 125 GS/s on all 4 channels | 100 GS/s | 200 GS/s |
Record length | 500 Mpoints (up to 2 Gpoints option) | 62.5 Mpoints (up to 1 Gpoints option) | 62.5 Mpoints (up to 1 Gpoints option) |
Random noise | 0.10% of full scale to 0.23% of full scale, 500 mV full scale | 0.69% to 0.83% of full scale, 300 mV full scale | 0.43% to 0.71% of full scale, 500 mV full scale |
Intrinsic jitter | 60 fs (1 µs time duration) and 70 fs (1 ms time duration) | 100 fs (10 µs time duration) | 65 fs (10 µs time duration) |
Probe compatibility | P7700 and P7600 Series TriMode | P7500, 7600, and P7700 Series TriMode | |
Connectivity | LAN (10G Ethernet on SFP+ and 1000 Base-T on RJ45), USB 3.0 (7 total), DisplayPort, HDMI | PCIe, USB, Thunderbolt, HDMI, DisplayPort, and more | |
Screen size | 15.6-inch HD touchscreen | Not specified, but much smaller | |
probe Table 1: A comparison of the newly released 7 series DPO and the 70000 series.
The enhancements in the 7 Series are primarily due to three key improvements:
- Lower learning curve with the TekScope user interface (UI) that would be familiar to Tek customers
- A fast throughput with a 10 Gb Ethernet LAN SFP+ port (on the back of the oscilloscope)
- A clean signal path due to the iterative advancements, yielding two new ASICs, the Tek079 and Tek085, both designed and built in-house
The 10 Gb Ethernet LAN SFP+ port (Figure 3) is ideal for short data runs with a swift offload from the scope for parallel analysis and off-scope processing. Additionally, the faster CPU and on-board GPU will accelerate data processing directly on the scope.
Figure 3 An image of the back of the 7 Series showing the 10 Gb Ethernet LAN SFP+ port, which can accept either a regular RJ45, fiber optic, or direct-attach connection. Source: Tektronix
The new ASICs
At the core of the oscilloscope are the upgrades to the custom preamplifier and ADC, as shown on the acquisition board in Figure 4. Each of these boards has two channels; the signal enters through the inputs to the preamp and ADC, and out to a large FPGA used for triggering and data storage.
Figure 4 The 7 Series DPO acquisition board showing Tek085 preamplifiers connected directly to the Tek079 ADC (black chips shown on the left-hand side). Source: Tektronix
“This chip (Tek85) has half the noise of the previous preamp called Tek61, which is in our 6 Series product,” said Bieber. The Tek85 chip is fabricated using GlobalFoundries’ 9HP SiGe process. It uses “Quiet Channel” noise reduction technology, which essentially performs the continuous time linear equalization (CTLE) function in hardware instead of software to push channel noise down without increasing the noise floor (a consequence of implementing equalization techniques in software). This, along with the 10-bit ADC, allows the oscilloscope to have a low vertical (random) noise with a high effective number of bits (ENOB).
Aalyia Shaukat, associate editor at EDN, holds a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and has worked in the design publishing industry for nearly ten years.
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