Real-time scope ups bandwidth to 36 GHz and beyond with high channel count

Real-time scope ups bandwidth to 36 GHz and beyond with high channel count

Employing advanced 8HP silicon-germanium (SiGe) chipsets to provide channels with 36-GHz bandwidth and 80-Gsample/s sampling, the LabMaster 10 Zi oscilloscope can offers capabilities said to be well beyond those found in any other real-time oscilloscope today. And by combining pairs of channels using built-in Digital Bandwidth Interleave (DBI) technology, the scope can have up to 10 channels with 60-GHz bandwidth and 160-Gsample/s sampling — nearly twice the bandwidth rating of its closest competitors: 32- and 33-GHz instruments from well-known scope makers — and with a much higher number of channels. Yet the scope’s pricing is comparable to those with far less capability.

The scope is functionally and physically divided into two subsystems: the Master Control Module and the Acquisition Module. The former has the display, control panel, CPU, and distributed channel-sync clock, while the latter provides four 36-GHz, 80-Gsample/s channels with memory of up to 512 Mpts/ch, or two interleaved 60-GHz, 160-MHz channels with up to 1,024 Mpoints/channel. A master module can control up to five acquisition modules, so systems can be configured with up to 20/10 channels.

The scope also claims a number of other industry firsts. Trigger bandwidth is 30 GHz, a new high, and 20-80% rise time is just 5.5 ps at 60 GHz BW and 9.75 ps at 36 GHz. The jitter noise floor at 36 GHz is about 100 fsrms , so the scope can capture the fifth harmonic of 14.4 Gbit/s serial data signals, Additionally, a 14.1-Gbit/s, 80-bit serial pattern trigger with support for 8b/10b and 64b/66b symbol triggering and PCI Express Generation 3.0 will be available optionally. The trigger will permit high-speed debugging of serial data by providing the ability to isolate errors to specific symbols and to a PCI Express link layer. (From $252,900, with acquisition modules priced from $156,000 — 36 GHz available 2nd qtr; 60 GHz, 3rd qtr.)

By Richard Comerford

LeCroy , Chestnut Ridge , NY
Customer Care Center 800-453-2769
www.lecroy.com