Advances in Oscilloscope Technology

In 2001, LeCroy introduced the first 5 GHz real time digital
oscilloscope. This product was followed in 2002 by 6 GHz units from
Tektronix, LeCroy and Agilent. All of these instruments provide new
capabilities for debugging high frequency circuits. This article discusses
the implementation adopted by LeCroy, and the advantages offered by
this approach.
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Advances in Oscilloscope Technology



Introduction In 2001, LeCroy introduced the first 5 GHz real time digital
oscilloscope. This product was followed in 2002 by 6 GHz units from
Tektronix, LeCroy and Agilent. All of these instruments provide new
capabilities for debugging high frequency circuits. This article discusses
the implementation adopted by LeCroy, and the advantages offered by
this approach.

All digital scopes use the basic block diagram shown in Figure 1. The
input signal passes through an amplifier/attenuator stage, then an ADC
converts the time varying signal amplitude to a series of numbers which