News and New Products

35-GHz waveform-analyzer plug-in triggers sequential-sampling DSO from differential or single-ended data

By Dan Strassberg, Contributing Technical Editor -- EDN, 2/1/2008

Agilent Technologies has introduced a precision waveform analyzer in the form of a double-width plug-in for its model 86100C DCA-J (digital-communications analyzer)—an ultrahigh-bandwidth sequential equivalent-time-sampling DSO (digital-storage oscilloscope). Agilent designed the 86108A analyzer for engineers who verify and validate designs of high-speed electrical-communications systems and components. Residual jitter well below 100 fsec—which the company calls the industry’s lowest—and channel bandwidths as high as 35 GHz ensure that users see the true performance of their signals.

Integrated instrumentation-grade hardware clock recovery greatly simplifies and speeds measurement setups, allowing the scope to trigger directly from single-ended or differential data signals and eliminating the need for a separate trigger input. Until now, says an Agilent spokesperson, a major headache for users of sequential-sampling DSOs has been finding and connecting a suitable trigger source without introducing delay that corrupts jitter measurements.

The integrated triggering system functions even in the presence of spread-spectrum clocking, allowing accurate signal analyses on components and systems used in serial buses, such as PCI (peripheral-component interconnect) Express and SATA (serial-advanced-technology attachment). An onboard phase detector enables the use of a simple, accurate technique based on clock or data inputs to measure jitter transfer and jitter/phase-noise spectra and to determine the PLL (phase-locked-loop) bandwidth of a device under test. US prices for the 86108A precision waveform analyzer start at $85,000.