Tektronix Oscilloscopes

Before the widespread adoption of high-speed digital architectures, robust analog instruments served as the industry standard. The Tektronix 2465B is a 400 MHz, four-channel analog oscilloscope featuring selectable 1 M̩ and 50 ̩ inputs and an 875 ps rise time. As digital storage systems emerged, instruments like the Tektronix TDS210 introduced basic digital capabilities in a compact package, offering a 60 MHz bandwidth and a 1.0 GS/s real-time sample rate.

More advanced classic digital models, such as the Tektronix TDS420A (200 MHz, 4-channel) and the Tektronix TDS460A (400 MHz, 4-channel), incorporated higher record lengths and up to 12-bit resolution in Hi-Res mode, supporting more demanding laboratory debugging tasks.

To capture elusive transient signals, Tektronix developed Digital Phosphor Oscilloscopes (DPO) and introduced InstaVu acquisition technology. Legacy high-performance units like the Tektronix TDS754D (500 MHz) and Tektronix TDS784D (1 GHz) deliver waveform capture rates up to 400,000 waveforms per second. The Tektronix TDS7404 extends real-time sampling performance to 4 GHz analog bandwidth and a 20 GS/s single-channel sample rate.

For general bench use, the TDS3000 series—including the Tektronix TDS3032B (300 MHz, 2-channel), Tektronix TDS3054B (500 MHz, 4-channel), and Tektronix TDS3054C (500 MHz, 4-channel)—combines portability with a 3,600 wfms/s capture rate. Higher-end workhorse tasks are addressed by the TDS5000 and DPO7000 series, where models like the Tektronix TDS5054B and Tektronix DPO7254 feature larger touch screens, deeper record lengths, and up to 2.5 GHz or 3.5 GHz bandwidth respectively, as seen on the 3.5 GHz Tektronix DPO7354.

The Mixed Domain Oscilloscope (MDO) category integrates multiple bench instruments into a single chassis. Models like the Tektronix MDO3054 (500 MHz) and Tektronix MDO34 serve as multi-instrument tools by incorporating analog channels, optional logic analysis, and spectrum analysis. Higher-performance mixed-domain analysis is supported by the MDO4000 series. The Tektronix MDO4054-6 and Tektronix MDO4104-6 feature 4 analog channels (up to 1 GHz on the MDO4104-6) along with 16 digital channels and a dedicated 6 GHz RF channel, permitting time-correlated analog, digital, and RF debugging.

The latest generations of Tektronix instruments utilize a 12-bit ADC architecture and FlexChannel technology, which allows each physical input channel to act as either one analog channel or eight digital channels via logic probes.

• 2 Series MSO: Designed for portability, the Tektronix MSO24 is less than 2 inches thick and offers up to 500 MHz bandwidth, 4 analog channels, and optional battery operation for field work.
• 4 Series MSO: Instruments like the Tektronix MSO46, Tektronix MSO44B, and Tektronix MSO46B offer up to 6 FlexChannel inputs (48 digital channels) and configurable bandwidths up to 1.5 GHz.
• 5 Series MSO: Represented by the Tektronix MSO54 (4 FlexChannel inputs) and the Tektronix MSO58 (8 FlexChannel inputs), these provide a 15.6-inch high-definition touch display and 12-bit vertical resolution (up to 16 bits in High Res mode).
• 6 Series MSO: The Tektronix MSO64 delivers up to 8 GHz analog bandwidth and up to a 25 GS/s real-time sample rate across all 4 of its FlexChannel inputs for advanced embedded system validation.

For extremely high-bandwidth communications testing and TDR/TDT network analysis, the modular Tektronix DSA8200 sampling oscilloscope mainframe provides up to 8 acquisition channels and supports electrical and optical modules reaching bandwidths of 70+ GHz.