Single instrument spans many technologies
Richard A. Quinnell, Contributing Technical Editor -- Test & Measurement World, 3/1/2005 2:00:00 AM
Teradyne recently released the Turbo AC analog instrument for its Catalyst, Tiger, and Flex semiconductor test systems. The company developed the instrument in response to technology trends in analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters (ADCs and DACs). In a recent interview, George Rose, business marketing manager for the broadband market at Teradyne's Semiconductor Test Division, explained the reasons for developing a single instrument to cover a wide operational range.
|
| Teradyne says that the general trend in built-in ADCs and DACs is higher bandwidth at the high end and more bits at the low end, pushing device performance above current testing technology. |
Q What prompted the development of this board?
A In 2003, we wanted to understand where the market was going in the broadband space in terms of the dynamic range and bandwidth of ADCs and DACs. We knew we needed to make a move in order to lead the markets.
Q Which markets are you referring to?
A Things like precision and high-speed converter devices tend to lead the market and "peek" out above the current testing technology. But we were seeing that across the board, in all the markets where converters are used as part of a chip design, converter technology was starting to increase.
In telephony, we saw 10-bit converter technology going to 12, 14, and 16 bits. Obviously, there was no increase in bandwidth there because it is a set frequency and standard. But we saw other markets such as the xDSL pushing out in bandwidth. Things were going from the ADSL to the ADSL2+ to the VDSL to the SHDSL. It wasn't necessarily an increase in bits, but we saw 14-bit technology being pressed out to 12 and 15 MHz.
The trend was that converters were increasing in dynamic range and bandwidth. Knowing this, we saw that we needed something that was going to cover this space.
Q And that was the Turbo AC?
A Yes. It provides –125-dBc total harmonic distortion and up to 120-dBA signal-to-noise ratio for audio, up to –100-dB THD at 500 kHz for xDSL, and signal phase alignment of ±0.1° for WCDMA and G3, along with 150 MHz of source and capture bandwidth for cable modem and settop box applications.
Q Why try to pack such a broad range of capability into a single instrument?
A We could have done single products for the low end, then have a high-end product and something for the middle. But in addition to these levels of converter technology, we were seeing high integration. There was the SOC market, as well as the SIP market. So you're seeing audio, video, xDSL, cable modem—and in the settop box, HDTV—all being integrated into single parts.
We had to decide whether to offer our customers a mix of products or whether it would be better to have a single product that would span the whole range. We opted for a single product.
Q Did any other trends help drive the development of Turbo AC?
A Our focus market was HDTV and video—the digital TV. It's a government regulation that manufacturers must produce digital TVs by 2007, and it will change the way chip manufacturers have to test. We needed to offer differential testing along with arbitrary waveform generation.
In the cable modem and settop box markets, manufacturers need both single-tone and dual-tone testing with frequencies above 75 MHz to test the channel 2 and channel 3 output signals. In the xDSL space, we saw customers changing to single-tone testing, so dynamic testing—dynamic linearity—was important to them.
Teradyne has always had a focus on testing stand-alone converter test technology. We had to figure out how to test things like the 14- and 16-bit SAR converters with bandwidth needs out to 150 MHz that are coming out of companies like TI and Analog Devices, because they will eventually be integrated into those SOC devices.
No related content found.
- 0 rated items found.
Datasheets.com Electronic Parts & Inventory Search
185 million searchable parts
- Part Number
- Description
- Inventory
- Products
- Manufacturers
View All Webcasts
