Get the latest tech news

A Tektronix TDS 684B Oscilloscope Uses CCD Analog Memory


Introduction I have a Tektronix TDS 684B oscilloscope that I bought cheaply at an auction. It has 4 channels, 1 GHz of BW and a sample rate of 5 Gsps.

I’ve always wondered how Tektronix managed to reach such high specifications back in the nineties, so in this blog post I take a quick look at the internals, to figure out how it works, and do some measurements along the signal path. It’s safe to assume that this interface is used for high-speed data transfer while the flat cables are for lower speed configuration and status traffic. So the scope always acquires what’s probably the full contents of the CCD FIFO and throws a large part away when a lower sample length is selected.

Get the Android app

Or read this on Hacker News

Read more on:

Photo of 684b

684b

Photo of ccd analog memory

ccd analog memory

Photo of ccd

ccd