Tektronix 30 GHz scope on way

Tektronix has validated ASICs designed in IBM’s 8HP silicon germanium (SiGe) BiCMOS specialty foundry technology and announced that they are exceeding target specifications for a planned new performance oscilloscope capable of greater than 30 GHz bandwidth across multiple channels while minimising noise.

The oscilloscope platform will meet designers’ needs for more accurate characterisation of high-speed serial data beyond 10 Gbps and enhance optical modulation analysis of 100 GbE where complex signalling requires accurate bit capture.

IBM’s technology is a 130 nm SiGe bipolar complementary metal oxide semiconductor (BiCMOS) process that is claimed to offer 2x performance over the previous generation. SiGe technology uses mature fabrication processes associated with the 50-year-old silicon industry but with performance levels comparable to that of exotic materials such as indium phosphide (InP) and gallium arsenide (GaAs).

Unlike those alternatives, SiGe BiCMOS provides access to high-speed bipolar transistors on the same die as standard CMOS, enabling a class of circuitry that marries extreme performance with large-scale integration.