News

9 August 2010

 

Tektronix using 200GHz IBM’s 8HP SiGe technology for 30GHz oscilloscopes

Tektronix Inc of Beaverton, OR, USA says that its next-generation, scalable, performance oscilloscope platform will make broad use of IBM 8HP silicon germanium (SiGe) technology.

With a cut-off frequency of 200GHz, the 130nm SiGe bipolar complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (BiCMOS) foundry technology offers a two-fold improvement in performance over the previous generation, and targets delivery of oscilloscopes with real-time bandwidth beyond 30GHz.

“SiGe’s performance and the reliability and stability of IBM’s SiGe manufacturing capability will enable our next-generation oscilloscope to achieve greater than 30GHz acquisition capability for growing customer needs in the computing/communications industries,” says Brian Reich, general manager, Performance Oscilloscopes for Tektronix.

In 1998, IBM became the first firm to introduce SiGe IC technology into mainstream manufacturing. By 2000, Tektronix announced the delivery of the TDS7000 Series real-time oscilloscopes (the fastest commercially available oscilloscopes at the time), powered by IBM’s flagship SiGe 5HP technology. Tektronix is now continuing to use IBM’s IC technology with its fourth-generation SiGe 8HP.

“For nearly 15 years, Tektronix has worked closely with our engineering team to fully realize the potential of SiGe technology,” says Bernie Meyerson, VP, Innovation at IBM. “SiGe continues to be capable of delivering the performance necessary for a new generation of high-performance test instrumentation.”

Tektronix says that, over the past decade, it has anticipated the appropriate levels of bandwidth support for the leading serial standards, and is an active participant in such bodies as the IEEE Society, PCI-SIG, SATA-IO and USDB-IF. In particular, the Tektronix Performance Oscilloscope Investment Protection Program provides customers with a migration path to higher-performance oscilloscopes as their needs evolve.

Initial Tektronix product deployments using 8HP SiGe technology are expected in 2011.

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