Evaluating Oscilloscope Sample Rates

 vs.

Sampling Fidelity

Digital storage oscilloscopes (DSO) are the primary tool used today by digital designers to perform signal integrity measurements such as setup/hold times, eye margin, and rise/fall times. The two key banner specifications than affect an Oscilloscope’s signal integrity measurement accuracy are bandwidth and sample rate. Most engineers have a good idea of how much bandwidth they need for their digital measurements. However, there is often a lot confusion about required sample rates — and engineers often assume that scopes with the highest sample rates produce the most accurate digital measurements. But is this true? When you select an oscilloscope for accurate, high-speed digital measurements, sampling fidelity can often be more important than maximum sample rate.

For more information, please go to the following link:

http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/5989-5732EN.pdf