Applications—
7A42
APPLICATION
6
OFFSET
PROBING
TECHNIQUES FOR
HIGH SPEED LOGIC
SYSTEMS
Probing
high-speed circuits
with
high
impedance probes
can
cause
ringing
at
high
frequencies
and significant
degradation
of
rise
and
fall
times.
The
7A42
Logic
Triggered
Vertical
Amplifier
-
P6230
Variable
Bias/Offset
Probe
combination
enables
probing
high-speed
ECL
logic
with
minimum
circuit loading.
The
P6230
Variable
Bias/Offset
Probe
is
a
10X,
450
ohm
device. The
bias
voltage
at
the
probe
tip
is
continuously
variable
from
-5V
to +5V.
It
also
features a
built-in,
50-ohm
termination
resistor that
can
be
switched in for use
with
1
megohm
amplifiers.
This
50-ohm
termination
will
be
switched
out
in
this
application
in
favor
of
the
7A42
’
s
internal
50
ohm
terminator.
A
variety
of
grounding
schemes
are
possible
with the
P6230,
including
a
low-inductance
ground
lead,
and
a
printed-
circuit-board
adaptor.
Ground
leads should
be
as
short
as possible
to
minimize
ringing.
The
low
capacitance
of
the
probe
makes
it
advantageous
for probing
transmission
line
circuits.
A
high-fidelity
signal
representation
is
possible
with
less
sensitivity
to
the
length
of the
ground
lead
than
with
higher
capacitance
probes.
Figure
3-9. Standard 500-ohm probe forms voltage divider with termination resistor.
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