News and New Products

Serial pulse-data-generator produces 7-GHz patterns

By Dan Strassberg -- EDN, 7/14/2005

Agilent Technologies has announced a high-speed, serial-pulse-data generator with stimulus capability to 7 GHz (Picture). According to the company, the 81141A is the first pulse generator to achieve such speeds. By providing precision low-jitter signals and offering full control of data streams for stress tests, the $88,000 instrument enables computer- and semiconductor-test engineers to accurately characterize components for the next-generation, high-speed serial buses. The unit’s 1-GHz linear-delay modulation enables fast and precise jitter-tolerance and jitter-transfer measurements.

“Combining multiple data formats, such as RZ [return to zero], R1 [return to one], and NRZ [non-return to zero], with sequencing, trigger capability, and fast frequency change, is unique in the market and is critical for the next-generation high-speed technology wave,” says Siegfried Gross, vice president and general manager of Agilent’s Digital Verification Solutions Division. “High-speed design starts with the physical layer and its signal integrity.”

Agilent Technologies, www.agilent.com/find/7G_Pulse.