Tektronix TDS5000B Series Reference guide

Online Help
TDS5000B Series Oscilloscopes
PHP0237
Adapted from the TDS5000B Series Oscilloscopes online help Version 2.0
August, 2004

2
Table of Contents
Getting Started
Copyright Information 22
About the TDS5000B Series Oscilloscope 23
Product Description 23
Product Software 27
User Interface Map 28
Installing Software 29
Using Online Help 30
Navigating the Online Help 30
Documentation 31
Support Information 32
Feedback 33
Standard Accessories 34
Recommended Accessories 35
Options 38
Windows Interface Guidelines 39
Analysis and Connectivity Support 40
Getting the Analysis and Connectivity Support Tools 40
VXI Plug-and-Play Instrument Driver 41
TekVISA 41
TekVISA ActiveX Control (TVC) 41
TekVISAExcel Toolbar 41
VXI 11.2 LAN Server 41
Supported ADEs 42
Tektronix Toolbar for Word 42
Report Generator 42

3
IVI Drivers 42
Menu Bar Mode 42
Toolbar Mode 42
Working with the TDS5000B Series Instrument 43
Using the Instrument Interface 44
Changing Control Settings 44
Moving and Docking Control Windows 45
Controlling from within the Graticule Area 45
Access Shortcut Menus by Right-Clicking 46
Initializing the Instrument 46
Choosing and Connecting Probes 46
Creating Your Own Control Windows 47
Triggering, Timebase, and Horizontal Delay 47
Looking at Waveform Details 47
Using Fast Acquisition and DPO 48
Using Waveform Math 48
Using Spectral Analysis 49
Characterizing a Signal 49
Mask and Limit Testing 49
Application-Specific Measurements 50
Connecting to a Network 50
Printing Hard Copy 51
Using Other PC Applications 51
Using a Second Monitor 52
Connecting to Other Instruments 52
TDS5000B Series Options 53

4
Controls and Connections
Multipurpose Knobs 56
Vertical Controls 56
Horizontal Controls 57
MultiView Zoom Controls 57
Trigger Controls 58
Run Controls 58
General Purpose Controls 59
Front Panel Connectors 60
Rear Panel Connectors 60
Side Panel Connectors 61
Optional Touch Screen 63
On/Standby Switch 63
File Menu
Reference Waveform Controls 64
Save As Dialog Box: Waveform 64
Recall Dialog Box: Waveform 65
Save As Dialog Box: Instrument Setup 66
Recall Dialog Box: Instrument Setups 67
Delete Setups and Reference Waveforms 68
Page Setup Dialog Box 69
Print Preview Dialog Box 69
Print Dialog Box 69
Using Print Screen 70
Save As Dialog Box: Screen Capture 70
Waveform Options Dialog Box 71
Save As Dialog Box: Measurement 72

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Save As Dialog Box: Histogram 72
Save As Dialog Box: Timestamp 73
Edit Menu
Copy Setup: Images 74
Copy Setup: Waveforms 74
Copy Setup: Measurements 75
Autoset Undo Control Window 76
Vertical Menu
Vertical Setup Control Window 77
Zoom Setup Control Window 77
Zoom Control Window 79
AutoScroll Control Window 80
Graticule Zoom Control Window 81
Waveform Display Control Window 81
Waveform Label Control Window 82
Position/Scale Control Window 82
Position/Scale Control Window: Position 83
Position/Scale Control Window: Scale 83
Vertical Offset Control Window 84
Termination Control Window 84
Coupling Control Window 85
Bandwidth Control Window 86
Probe Calibration Control Window 87
Probe Calibration Control Window: Probe Status 87
Probe Calibration Control Window: Probe Calibration 88
Deskew Control Window 89
Attenuation Control Window 90

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Display On/Off 90
Vertical Position/Scale 91
Offset 91
Termination 92
Channel Invert 92
Coupling Setup 93
Bandwidth 93
Probe Controls 93
Channel Invert Control Window 94
Using Offset to Avoid Clipping Signals 94
High Impedance Probes 95
Low Impedance Probes 95
Active Probes 95
Probe Calibration Restrictions 95
Horizontal/Acquisition Menu
Horizontal/Acquisition Setup Control Window
(Horizontal Tab) 96
Record Length 96
Horizontal Scale 97
Horizontal Control Window Readouts 97
Horizontal Delay and Horizontal Position 98
Horizontal Position/Scale Control Window 98
Horizontal Position/Scale Control Window: Delay Mode Off 99
Horizontal Position/Scale Control Window: Position 99
Horizontal Position/Scale Control Window: Scale 99
Horizontal Position/Scale Control Window: Delay On 100
Horizontal Position/Scale Control Window: Horiz Delay 100

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Horizontal Position/Scale Control Window: Scale Delay On 101
Resolution Control Window 101
Acquisition Mode Control Window 102
Horizontal/Acquisition Setup Control Window
(Acquisition Tab) 104
Acquisition Mode 104
Fast Acquisitions 106
Roll Mode 107
Interactions of Roll Mode and Other Instrument Settings 108
Incompatible Acquisition Features 109
Sampling Modes 109
FastFrame Setup Control Window 111
Frame Setup 112
Frame Viewing 113
Time Stamps 114
Time Stamp Table 114
Using FastFrame Acquisitions 114
FastFrame Controls 116
Autoset 116
Trigger Menu
Trigger Setup Control Window 119
A Event Trigger Types 120
Sequential Triggering (Horizontal Delay On) 120
Sequential Triggering (Horizontal Delay Off) 121
B Event Trigger 121
Trigger Mode and Holdoff 122
Edge Trigger Control Window 122

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Glitch Trigger Control Window 123
Width Trigger Control Window 123
Runt Trigger Control Window 124
Timeout Trigger Control Window 124
Transition Time Trigger Control Window 125
Setup and Hold Trigger Control Window 126
Logic Pattern Trigger Control Window 126
Logic State Trigger Control Window 127
Window Trigger Control Window 128
Video Trigger Control Window 128
Comm Trigger Control Window 129
Communication Trigger Codes and Standards (Option) 130
Set to 50% with Comm Triggers 132
Trigger on A Only (Horizontal Delay Off) 132
Trigger on A Only (Horizontal Delay On) 132
Trigger After Time (Horizontal Delay Off) 133
Trigger After Time (Horizontal Delay On) 133
Trigger on Nth Event (Horizontal Delay Off) 134
Trigger on Nth Event (Horizontal Delay On) 135
Trigger Holdoff Control Window 136
Trigger Mode Control Window 137
Run/Stop Control Window 137
Communication Trigger Coding 138
Comm Trigger Pulse Form 138
Display Menu
Display Setup Control Window (Appearance Tab) 139
Display Style 139

9
Display Persistence 140
Waveform Intensity 140
Display Format 141
Waveform Interpolation 142
Display Setup Control Window (Screen Text Tab) 142
Display Setup Control Window (Objects Tab) 143
Graticule Style 143
Trigger Level Marker 144
LCD Backlight Timeout 144
Display Setup Control Window (Colors Tab) 144
Color Palettes 145
Display Palette 146
Reference Color 146
Math Color 147
Text Properties Control Window 147
Display Persistence Control Window 148
Cursor Menu
Cursor Setup Control Window 150
Cursor Type Setup Control Window 151
Cursor Sources 152
Cursor Position Control Window 152
Horizontal Bar Cursors 153
Vertical Bar Cursors 153
Waveform Cursors 153
Screen Cursors 154
Cursor Modes 154
Cursor Style 155

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Cursors Using XY Display Format 156
Measurement Menu
Measurement Setup Control Window 158
Measurement Tabs: Amplitude 159
Measurement Tabs: Time 159
Measurement Tabs: More 160
Measurement Tabs: Histogram 160
Measurement Tabs: Communications 161
Measurement Tabs: Communications More 161
Measurements List 162
Measurement Snapshot Control Window 162
Measurement Statistics Control Window 163
Reference Levels Control Window 164
Gating Control Window 165
Histogram Control Window 166
Delay Measurement Setup 167
Phase Measurement Setup 167
Mask Menu
Mask Setup Control Window 169
Mask Types and Standards (Option) 169
Mask Display Control Window 173
Mask Alignment Control Window 173
Mask Source Control Window 174
Mask Margins Control Window 174
Mask Pass/Fail Setup Control Window 175
Mask Test Pass/Fail Controls 176
Mask Pass/Fail Test Notification 176

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Pass Fail Setup More 177
Mask Polarity 177
Mask Test Repeat 178
Mask Pass/Fail Results Control Window 178
Mask Test Summary 179
Mask Hits Per Segment 179
Mask Test Start or Reset 180
Mask Test Controls Control Window 180
Mask Configuration Display Control Window 181
Mask Configuration Autoset Control Window 181
Mask Autoset Vertical Controls 182
Mask Autoset Horizontal Controls 182
Mask Autoset Trigger Level Control 183
Mask Autoset Autofit Control 183
Mask Autoset Mode 183
Mask Configuration Autofit Control Window 184
User Mask Setup 185
Mask Edit Control Window 185
Recall User Mask 187
Save User Mask 188
User Mask Edit Control Window 189
Limit Test Setup Control Window 189
Create Limit Test Template 190
Compare Limit Test 191
Limit Test Options 192
Limit Test Failure Notification Control Window 193
Limit Test Reset 194

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Save Limit Test Dialog Box 195
Math Menu
Math Setup Control Window 196
Math Waveform Properties 196
Define Edit Expression 197
Predefined Math Expressions 197
Guidelines for Working with Math Waveforms 197
Spectral Analysis 198
Predefined Spectral 198
Equation Editor Control Window 198
Time Domain Tab 199
Spectral Analysis (Freq) Tab 200
Measurement List (Meas) Tab 200
Variable List (Var Tab) 200
Edit Controls 201
Adjust Math Parameters Control Window 201
Math Variables Control Window 202
Spectral Setup Control Window 202
Create Spectrum Tab 203
Mag Scale Tab 203
Phase Scale Tab 204
Control Tracking Tab 204
Spectral Setups: Acquisition 205
Spectral Setups: Gating 205
Spectral Setups: Frequency 206
Spectral Controls: Acquisition 207
Spectral Controls: Gating 208

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Spectral Controls: Frequency 209
Selecting a Spectral Window 209
Text Edit Controls 210
MyScope Menu
MyScope Setup Control Window 211
Using MyScope Control Windows 212
Open or Edit MyScope Dialog Box 214
Save MyScope File As Dialog Box 214
Utilities Menu
Set Time and Date 215
GPIB Configuration Control Window 216
LAN Server Status Control Window 216
External Signals Control Window 217
Touch Screen (Option) 217
Instrument Calibration Control Window 218
Instrument Diagnostics Control Window 218
E-mail on Event Control Window 219
E-mail Configuration Dialog Box 220
User Preferences: Prompt Before Action 221
User Preferences: Keypad Defaults 221
User Preferences: Record Length 222
User Preferences: Readouts 222
Option Installation 224
Tek Secure Erase 224
Theory of Operation
Functional Model 225
Process Overview 226

14
Signal Connection 227
Input Conditioning 227
Probes and Signal Connection 228
Coupling 228
Scaling and Positioning 228
Vertical Acquisition Window Considerations 229
Horizontal Acquisition Window Considerations 231
Autoset Considerations 232
Horizontal Acquisition Window Interrelated Parameters 232
Independent versus Shared Window 233
Acquisition Hardware 234
Sampling Process 234
Sampling Modes 235
Waveform Record 235
Interleaving 236
Triggering Concepts 236
Trigger Sources 237
Trigger Types 237
Trigger Modes 238
Trigger Holdoff 238
Trigger Coupling 239
Horizontal Trigger Position 239
Trigger Slope and Level 239
Delayed Trigger System 239
Advanced Triggering 240
Glitch Trigger 240
Runt Trigger 240

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Width Trigger 240
Transition Time Trigger 240
Timeout Trigger 240
Pattern Trigger 241
State Trigger 242
Setup and Hold Trigger 243
Window Trigger 244
Video Trigger 244
Communication Trigger 244
Sequential Triggering 244
Triggering with Horizontal Delay Off 245
Triggering with Horizontal Delay On 246
Triggering and Horizontal Delay Summary 247
Display Overview 247
Display Elements 248
Acquisition Preview 249
Waveform Display 249
Customizable Display Elements 250
Operations on the Time Base 255
Horizontal Position and the Horizontal Reference Point 255
Interpolation 255
Using the MultiZoom Feature 256
Automatic Measurements 256
Cursor Measurements 257
Cursor Types 259
Histograms 260
Math Waveforms 261

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Creating Math Waveforms 263
Math Waveform Sources 264
Math Waveform Expression Syntax 264
Math Waveform Differentiation 265
Offset, Position, Scale, and Math Waveforms 266
Waveform Integration 266
Defining Spectral Math Waveforms 267
Using the Spectral Math Controls 268
Using the Time Controls 268
Using the Gating Controls 269
Using the Frequency Domain Controls 270
Using the Magnitude Controls 271
Using the Phase Controls 273
Using Spectral Analyzer Windows 274
Gaussian Window 276
Rectangular Window 277
Hamming Window 278
Hanning, Kaiser-Bessel, and Blackman-Harris Windows 279
Flattop2 Window 281
Tek Exponential Window 282
Effects of Trigger Jitter 282
Recognizing Aliasing 283
Serial Mask Testing with Option SM 283
Mask Key Points 284
Levels Used in Taking Eye Measurements 285
Communication Triggering (Option) 287
Limit Testing Concepts 287

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Saving and Recalling Setups 288
Saving and Recalling Waveforms 289
Saving and Copying Waveform Data 289
Spectral Analysis Overview
Spectral Analysis Features 291
FFT Process 291
The FFT Display 292
FFT Windows 292
FFT Window Characteristics 293
Time Domain Gating 294
Aliasing 294
Eliminating Aliasing 295
Nyquist frequency 295
Overview Tasks
Setting Up Signal Input 296
Setting Acquisition Modes 297
Setting Up Roll Mode 297
Using Fast Acquisitions 299
Time Stamping Frames 300
Triggering from the Front Panel 302
Checking Trigger Status 303
Triggering from the Trigger Setup Window 304
Triggering on a Glitch 306
Triggering on a Runt Pulse 307
Triggering on a Pulse Width 308
Triggering on Transition Time 309
Triggering on Pulse Timeout 311

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Triggering on a Pattern 312
Triggering on Logic State 313
Triggering on Setup/Hold Time Violations 314
Triggering on Window Threshold Violations 317
Triggering on a Video Signal 318
Triggering on a Sequence 319
Triggering on a Communication Signal 320
Displaying Waveforms 321
Using MultiView Zoom with Waveforms 322
Taking Automatic Measurements 323
Localizing a Measurement 326
Setting Cursor Sources 326
Starting and Resetting Histogram Counting 327
Creating a Math Waveform 329
Using Math Waveforms 330
Using a Predefined Spectral Math Waveform 332
Defining a Spectral Math Waveform 333
Setting Up Mask Testing 337
Creating a User Mask from a Defined Mask (Option) 340
Editing a User Defined Mask 341
Saving a User Mask to Disk 342
Recalling a User Mask from Disk 342
Creating a New User Mask 343
Using Limit Testing 344
Sending E-mail on Events 345
Selecting the Sound Source 346
Saving a Waveform 346

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Saving a Screen Capture 348
Saving Measurements 349
Copying Waveform Data 349
Creating MyScope Control Windows 351
Editing MyScope Control Windows 352
Tasks
Calibrating Active Probes 353
Calibrating Passive Probes 353
Deskew 354
Signal Path Compensation 354
Signal Path Compensation Status 355
Low Frequency Probe Compensation 355
Taking Cursor Measurements 355
Creating Reference Waveforms 356
Saving Reference Waveforms using Auto-Increment File
Name 356
Recalling Reference Waveforms 357
Recalling a Template Waveform 357
Creating a Spectral Waveform 357
Setting up for FastFrame Operations 358
Taking Automatic Measurements 358
Setting up a Dual Display 359
Creating Math Waveforms using Predefined Expressions 360
Creating Math Waveforms with the Equation Editor 360
Exiting the Instrument Application 360
Minimizing the Instrument Application 361
Shutting Down the Instrument 361

20
Adding Software Applications to the Instrument 361
Creating an Emergency Startup Disk 362
Backing Up User Files 362
Using Roll Mode 362
TDS5000B Series GPIB Programmer Online Help 363
TDS5000B Series Oscilloscope Applications Software 363
Trigger on A Event Only 363
Triggering on an Event after a Specified Delay 363
Triggering on a B Event 364
Setting up a Histogram 364
Taking Automated Measurements on Histogram Data 364
Printing the Screen to a Printer 365
Copying the Screen for Use in other Applications 365
Copying Measurements for Use in Other Applications 365
Saving Instrument Setups 366
Recalling Instrument Setups 366
Deleting Instrument Setups 367
Choosing Color Palettes 367
Customizing Color Palettes 367
Setting the Horizontal Delay 368
Comparing Data Using Horizontal Delay 368
Using the XY Display Format 368
Using the XYZ Display Format 368
Enabling a Network Connection 369
Selected Waveform versus Deselected Waveform 369
Probe Compensation Adjustment 369
Probe Compensation 370