Keysight Technologies N2830A Series User manual

Keysight N2830A-Series
Differential
InfiniiMax III+ Probes
Handling
Guide

Notices
© Keysight Technologies, Inc. 2014
No part of this manual may be reproduced in
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tronic storage and retrieval or translation into
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and written consent from Keysight Technolo-
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international copyright laws.
Manual Part Number
N2830-97001
Edition
April 2014
Printed in USA
Keysight Technologies, Inc.
1900 Garden of the Gods Rd.
Colorado Springs, CO 80907 USA
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Safety Notices
CAUTION. A CAUTION notice denotes
a hazard. It calls attention to an operat-
ing procedure, practice, or the like that,
if not correctly performed or adhered to,
could result in damage to the product or
loss of important data. Do not proceed
beyond a CAUTION notice until the indi-
cated conditions are fully understood
and met.
WARNING. A WARNING notice
denotes a hazard. It calls attention to
an operating procedure, practice, or the
like that, if not correctly performed or
adhered to, could result in personal
injury or death. Do not proceed beyond
a WARNING notice until the indicated
conditions are fully understood and
met.
2

3
N2830A-Series Probes
Handling Guide
Proper Handling Techniques
Use a Static-Safe Work Station 4
Safely Connecting the Probe to an Oscilloscope 6
Safely Disconnecting the Probe from an Oscilloscope 8
Probing a DUT 9
In this guide, you’ll learn how to properly handle the probe to
prevent damage and maintain high performance. For more
safe-handling information, go to www.keysight.com and search for
InfiniiMax III ESD Best Practices demo video.
CAUTION InfiniiMax I and II probe heads cannot be used with Infiniimax III+ probe
amplifiers and InfiniiMax III+ probe heads cannot be used with InfiniiMax I
and II amplifiers.

4
N2830A-Series Probes
Handling Guide
Use a Static-Safe Work Station
InfiniiMax probes and accessories are ESD sensitive devices and
should be treated with care. Before using or handling the probe or
accessories, always wear a grounded ESD wrist strap and ensure
that cables and probe heads are discharged before being
connected. All work, including connecting probe amplifiers to the
oscilloscope, should be performed at a static-safe work station as
shown in Figure 1.
CAUTION Electrostatic discharge (ESD) can quickly and imperceptibly damage or
destroy high-performance probes, resulting in costly repairs. Always wear a
wrist strap when handling probe components.
Figure 1 Static-Safe Work Station

5
N2830A-Series Probes
Handling Guide
Many scopes including Keysight’s 90000X series have a front-panel
ground socket. You can plug the wrist strap into the ground socket
as seen in the following picture.
Figure 2 Wrist Strap Connected to Oscilloscope Ground Socket
The static-safe work station shown in Figure 1 uses two types of
ESD protection:
■Conductive table-mat and wrist-strap combination.
■Conductive floor-mat and heel-strap combination.
Both types, when used together, provide a significant level of ESD
protection. Of the two, only the table-mat and wrist-strap
combination provides adequate ESD protection when used alone.
To ensure user safety, the static-safe accessories must provide at
least 1 MΩof isolation from ground. Purchase acceptable ESD
accessories from your local supplier.
WARNING These techniques for a static-safe work station should not be used when
working on circuitry with a voltage potential greater than 500 volts.

6
N2830A-Series Probes
Handling Guide
Safely Connecting the Probe to an Oscilloscope
To protect against ESD damage, always use the four steps shown
in Figure 4 on page 7 when connecting your probe to the
oscilloscope.
CAUTION Avoid damaging the probe amplifier connection pins. As shown in Figure 3,
never bend the probe head in order to “pop” it loose from the amplifier. Do
not wiggle the probe head up and down or twist it to remove the connectors
from the sockets.
CAUTION Never allow the probe head to be connected to the probe amplifier, if the
probe amplifier is not connected to the oscilloscope channel.
CAUTION Always disconnect an N2836A or N5441A solder-in probe head from the
probe amplifier before un-soldering, moving to a new position, and
re-soldering the head.
To connect a probe head to the probe amplifier, push the
connections straight in.
Figure 3 Disconnecting the Probe Head From the Amplifier

7
N2830A-Series Probes
Handling Guide
Figure 4 Connecting the Probe to the Oscilloscope

8
N2830A-Series Probes
Handling Guide
Safely Disconnecting the Probe from an Oscilloscope
Always disconnect the probe head from the probe amplifier before:
■disconnecting the probe amplifier from the oscilloscope.
■moving the probe amplifier from one oscilloscope channel to
another.
CAUTION Never allow the probe head to be connected to the probe amplifier, if the
probe amplifier is not connected to the oscilloscope channel.
Figure 5 Probe Improperly Disconnected from Oscilloscope While Probe
Head is Connected to the Probe Amplifier

9
N2830A-Series Probes
Handling Guide
Probing a DUT
The probe has been designed to withstand a moderate amount of
physical and electrical stress. However, with an active probe, the
technologies necessary to achieve high performance do not allow
the probe to be unbreakable. Treat the probe with care. It can be
damaged if excessive force is applied to the probe tip. This damage
is considered to be abuse and will void the warranty when verified
by Keysight Technologies service professionals.
When the probe amplifier is not in use, store it in the probe case.
Coil the probe cable with these tips in mind:
■Keep the coil’s radius fairly large so as not to induce kinking or
bending. Use a similar technique as when coiling an extension
cord.
■Avoid twisting the cable when coiling by introducing a very
slight twist with each coil. This allows the cable rotations to lie
flat against each other and will eliminate the net twisting of the
cable in the end.
CAUTION Probes are sensitive devices and should be treated with care. Do not bend or
kink the probe amplifier cable. Do not drop heavy objects on the probe, drop
the probe from large heights, spill liquids on the probe, etc. Any of these
examples can significantly degrade the performance of the probe.
CAUTION Do not replace or repair the N2849A QuickTip’s resistor or ground leads.
Attempting to do so will damage the ability of the tip to mate with the
N2848A probe head.
CAUTION Always mechanically strain-relieve the N2848A QuickTip head and N5439A
ZIF head before using to protect both your probe accessories and DUT from
damage.
CAUTION Using the N2787A 3D probe positioner with the N5445A browser probe head
reduces the chance of breaking the browser tips and ensures that the tips
maintain solid contact.

10
N2830A-Series Probes
Handling Guide
Moving the Probe to
Different Locations
When making your measurements, you’ll often need to probe
different locations on the DUT. You can safely move any of the
following three probe heads without having to first break the
amplifier-to-head connection:
■N5445A differential browser head
■N5439A ZIF head,
■N5444A 2.92 mm/3.5 mm/SMA head.
The only exception is when the DUT is not grounded to the
oscilloscope via the AC mains ground. In this case, connect the
DUT ground to the oscilloscope ground before moving the probe.
An example of a device having a floating ground would be a
battery-powered DUT.
CAUTION Always disconnect an N2836A or N5441A solder-in probe head from the
probe amplifier before un-soldering, moving to a new position, and
re-soldering the head. This is needed as some soldering-iron tips can hold a
charge which can damage the probe amplifier.
Strain Relieving the
Probe Heads
High-performance probes have small physical geometries to
ensure the lowest possible loading and best electrical response.
Because of their small size, probing accessories are often delicate.
It is important to mechanically secure your probes to protect both
your equipment and designs from damage. Although tack putty
and low-temperature hot glue are recommended, you can also use
other methods such as tape or hook-and-loop strain relief. Keep in
mind that different accessories have different cable stiffness. You
should choose a strain relief method appropriate for the cable
stiffness. For instance, it is best to secure the stiffer N5439A near
the SMP connectors and form the cable to the optimal location.
CAUTION Do not kink cables. Do not crush cables. Do not use aggressive adhesives or
high temperatures

11
N2830A-Series Probes
Handling Guide
Tack-Putty
Keysight recommends the use of tack putty for securing both probe
heads and amplifiers. Tack putty can be ordered using part number
N5439-65201. Wrap a small amount of tack-putty around your
probe head cables, taking care to not pinch them. The mass can
then be secured to a rigid body neat your DUT.
Similar techniques can be used to secure probe amplifiers where
you apply some tack-putty to the underside of the probe amplifier
body and attach it to a rigid body near your DUT.
Figure 6 Probe Secured Using Tack Putty
You can also use putty with a positioner, such as the N2787A as
shown in the following figure.

12
N2830A-Series Probes
Handling Guide
Figure 7 Using Putty With the N2787A 3D Probe Positioner
The same positioner can also be used to support your probe
amplifier.
Low-temperature Hot Glue
You can also use low-temperature hot glue to secure cables.
CAUTION Only use low-temperature hot glue. To remove the hot glue, warm it with a
heat gun set on low. Only heat the hot glue enough to remove it.
Figure 8 Probe Secured Using Low-Temperature Hot Glue

13
N2830A-Series Probes
Handling Guide

*N2830-97001*
Manual Part Number
N2830-97001
Keysight Technologies
Printed in USA, April 2014