Measurement of ghz signals

Oct 02, 2008 2 Replies

Hello,



I've got a storage oscilloscope here with a bandwith of 6 GHz. Unfortunately only the default probes with 500 MHz bandwidth are included.



Now I would like to measure signals in the range of 2.5 gigabit per second. Thus, I am looking for suitable probes with sufficient high bandwidth. But I think bandwidth is not all there is to consider. There is also the question whether to use active or passive probes and probably impedance and capacitance will also play a mayor role.



In addition, the signals I would like to measure on the board are routed differentially (selfevident at the frequencies!), so that differential probe would surely be the suitable choice here. But wouldn't it be possible to measure asymmetrically to ground potential, anyway?



Guys, how do I find the right solution for my task? Unfortunately I'm an absolute newbie in measurement technique so pardon me for bothering you. I already hit some books but I couldn't find out, anyhow.



Thanks for support. Saul


"Saul Bernstein"

** Yikes !

** You poor, under-privileged sod ...........
** Whooooaaaaahh...

This Q is a looooooong way outside " basic" electronics.

Try "sci.electronics.designs" instead.

Bound to be a few gurus there with experience with " state of the art" scope probes.

..... Phil

That big puppy on the left is 20 GHz. The signal is a 1 GHz square wave.

ftp://66.117.156.8/DSC01371.JPG

There's even a 50 GHz head for it, although I don't have (or need) one.

This scope and a sampling head is under $2K worth of gear from Ebay. Even a serious hobbyist can do picosecond electronics these days.

John

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