If you're contemplating upgrading to a top-level scope with a bandwidth of 20 GHz or more, chances are you have top-level debug and validation work on your plate. You may be sorting out a gnarly differential signal issue on a high-speed serial bus, looking for sources of noise and jitter that are making your eye diagram look, well, not so open. The latest high-end scopes from the Big Three—Agilent Technologies, LeCroy Corp., and Tektronix—all have the bandwidth and low enough noise floor to do the job. But using these scopes properly is not a given, and mistakes will cost you in either time or accuracy, if not both. The good news is that all three companies have taken measures to build in a lot of smarts that stand ready and waiting to help you capture that elusive glitch. In this article, we'll look at some best practices for these scopes, centered around the user interface and on maximizing signal-to-noise margins as well as on probing. We'll also examine some comparative data to help you decide which scope is best for your needs.
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