High bandwidth real-time oscilloscope using InP technology front-end chipset

High bandwidth real-time oscilloscope using InP technology front-end chipset

Agilent Technologies has announced a new generation of high-bandwidth oscilloscopes that use front-end chipsets with indium phosphide (InP) technology to provide breakthrough capabilities. The new chipset will help Agilent launch oscilloscopes with analog bandwidths above 16 GHz in the first half of 2010.

Engineers working on high-speed serial data links such as USB, SATA or PCI Express use oscilloscopes to measure jitter and other parameters to ensure that the design meets industry compliance standards. As data rates increase to more than 8.5 Gb/s, engineers will need oscilloscopes with analog bandwidths exceeding 16 GHz. In addition, the upcoming IEEE 803.2ba 40/100G standard will also drive demand for high-quality real-time signal analysis capabilities above 16 GHz.

Other vendors claim they can achieve larger bandwidths using bandwidth enhancement techniques such as digital signal processing (DSP) and frequency domain interleaving (or digital bandwidth interleaving; DBI). However, the noise and jitter generated by these techniques can seriously affect the measurement accuracy and frequency response of the oscilloscope.

The commonly used silicon process technology cannot reach analog bandwidths above 16GHz. The silicon technology used by other manufacturers has transistor switching frequencies in the range of 100GHz, and this frequency limitation is a major obstacle to providing larger analog bandwidths. Therefore, Agilent has invested in InP processes to extend the company's InGaPHBT (heterojunction bipolar transistor) IC technology capabilities. The transistor switching frequency of up to 200GHz helps to achieve high-frequency functions. InP technology can provide the same capabilities without sacrificing the reliability and manufacturability of Agilent instruments.

Compared with Agilent's previous generation of gallium arsenide (GaAs) processes, InP process technology has better material properties. InP technology can provide higher saturation and peak electron velocities, higher thermal conductivity, lower surface recombination rate, and higher breakdown electric field. These advantages mean that analog bandwidth will be pushed to new limits.

Compared with other technologies, InP technology also provides many measurement advantages: at higher frequencies, it can produce a fairly flat response; low-noise non-conductive substrates can improve measurement accuracy; low power consumption can ensure higher reliability.

Agilent J-BERTN4903B high-performance serial BERT (which can provide complete jitter tolerance testing) and Agilent N4916B de-emphasized signal converter use InP process. InP technology can achieve pulse authenticity with rise time faster than 20ps and reserve space for future needs.