Tek will use IBM 9HP SiGe technology to take scopes to 70GHz
Operating at speeds up to 350 GHz, 9HP is the first SiGe technology in the industry featuring the density of 90nm BiCMOS and delivers higher performance, lower power and higher levels of integration than current 180nm or 130nm SiGe offerings.
Tek previously previewed its next series of high-performance oscilloscopes, promising a 2014 release for units with real-time bandwidth of 70 GHz, for applications such as 400 Gbps and 1 Tbps optical communications and fourth generation serial data communications.
"By extending our long-standing relationship with technology leader IBM, Tektronix is continuing to push the envelope on what can be achieved in high-fidelity, high-speed data acquisition systems. Early adoption of 9HP has allowed our engineers to explore innovative architectures and performance thresholds once thought unattainable," said Kevin Ilcisin, chief technology officer, Tektronix. "The advanced 9HP SiGe BiCMOS technology provides the faster switching speeds, high integration levels, and low noise our next generation of performance instrumentation requires to meet customer requirements."
In addition to exploiting the advances made possible by 9HP, Tektronix’ forthcoming oscilloscopes will benefit from the use of Asynchronous Time Interleaving technology to improve signal-to-noise ratio beyond the frequency interleaving approach in use by some vendors today. In traditional frequency interleaving, each analogue-to-digital converter (ADC) in the signal acquisition system only sees part of the input spectrum. With Asynchronous Time Interleaving, all ADCs see the full spectrum with full signal path symmetry. This offers the performance gains available from interleaved architectures but without the same impact to signal fidelity. There’s more in a paper for download, "Techniques for Extending Real-Time Oscilloscope Bandwidth."
Test for USB 3.0
Tek has also announced a test solution for 10 Gbps SuperSpeed USB. A series of enhancements to its USB 3.0 test solutions includes an industry first transmitter test solution for the SuperSpeedPlus 10 Gbit/sec specification. Other enhancements include a new USB 3.0 oscilloscope-based layered decode capability and an enhanced automated solution for SuperSpeed USB transmitter testing that improves test throughput by up to 60%.
With the faster data rates for USB 3.0 come new test challenges, most notably major increases in channel loss and reduction in signal to noise ratio as well as more complex link training and timing requirements that must be verified. "Just as important industry standards such as USB 3.0 evolve over time, it’s critical that our test and measurement tools evolve as well," said Brian Reich, general manager, Performance Oscilloscopes, Tektronix. "The latest enhancements to our USB solutions enable engineers to verify compliance to the latest versions of the USB specification, seamlessly decode bus operation speeding debug efforts, and dramatically reduce test times while conducting automated compliance tests.
Tektronix USB 3.0 decode software simplifies debug with protocol-specific triggering, search and navigation, and multi-layer decode. This allows the user to easily navigate through the protocol stack, fully time correlated with the analogue waveform on the same screen.
The new TekExpress USB 3.0 transmitter test software (Option USB-TX) and SuperSpeedPlus USB transmitter test software (Option SSP) will both be available for download on www.tek.com in July 2013. The USB 3.0 decode will be a free upgrade for customers with a DPO/DSA/MSO70000 Series Oscilloscope with option SR-USB which will be available in July 2013.
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