Tektronix Z-Active Probe User manual

Z-Activet Probe
Deskew Fixture
Instructions

071-1768-01

Copyright © Tektronix, Inc. All rights reserved.
Licensed software products are owned by Tektronix or
its subsidiaries or suppliers, and are protected by national
copyright laws and international treaty provisions.

Tektronix products are covered by U.S. and foreign
patents, issued and pending. Information in this publica­tion supercedes that in all previously published material.
Specifications and price change privileges reserved.

TEKTRONIX and TEK are registered trademarks of
Tektronix, Inc.

Tip-Clip and Z-Active are trademarks of Tektronix, Inc.

Contacting Tektronix

Tektronix, Inc.
14200 SW Karl Braun Drive
PO Box 500
Beaverton, OR 97077
USA

For product information, sales, service, and technical
support:

H In North America, call 1--800--833--9200.

H Worldwide, visit www.tektronix.com to find contacts

in your area.

Warranty Information

For warranty information, go to www.tektronix.com,
click Support, and then use the provided links to search
for your product’s warranty.

Equipment Recycling

This product complies with the European Union’s
requirements according to Directive 2002/96/EC on
waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). For
information about recycling options, check the Support/
Service section of the Tektronix Web site (www.tektro­nix.com)

Z-Active Probe Deskew Fixture

The Z-Active Probe Deskew fixture (067-1586-00)
provides an edge source to time align (deskew) signals at
the probe tips. It allows you to deskew the Tip-Clip
assemblies that you will install on your circuit board
resulting in improved reliability and accuracy. The
fixture also provides a method to adjust the offset and
gain calibration function for the probes. The fixture
supports the Z-Active series oscilloscope probes.

The fixture is powered by one of the USB ports of the
oscilloscope. For best results, allow the oscilloscope to
warm up for 20 minutes before continuing with these
instructions.

Assemble the fixture before initial use. Mount the circuit
board to the fixture base and then install the solder box.
Use the screws provided.

Use the fixture with your Tektronix oscilloscope to
optimize the gain and offset accuracy of your Z-Active
probes. Refer to the DC Probe Calibration Procedure
for detailed instructions for performing the DC Cal
procedure. Perform the DC Calibration procedure before
the Deskew procedure.

Use the fixture to time align the signals at your probe
tips. Several different deskew methods are available:

H Use the hand-held adapters to deskew the probes

without any additional equipment.

H Use the fixture with the Tip-Clip assemblies directly.

H Use the fixture with Tip-Clip assemblies and solder

pins.

Refer to Deskew Procedure on page 3 for the detailed
deskew instructions.

DC Probe Calibration Procedure

Note the following:

H Perform the DC Cal procedure before the deskew

procedure.

H The USB cable does not need to be connected for the

DC probe calibration procedure.

Optimize Gain and Offset Accuracy

1. Connect the probe to the oscilloscope.

2. Connect the DC PROBE CAL output from the

oscilloscope to the BNC connector on the deskew
fixture.

3. Connect the probe to the fixture as shown in

Figure 1 on page 2.

1

Figure 1: DC Probe Calibration connections

NOTE. Replace the Tip-Clipt assemblies

if damaged or worn.

4. Select Probe Cal . . . from the Vertical menu.

5. Select the oscilloscope channel to which the probe is

attached.

6. Select Clear Probecal to erase any previous

calibration data.

7. Select the Calibrate Probe button.

The oscilloscope will perform a DC calibration
operation on the selected probe. The result appears in
the Probe Status readout.

8. When the operation is finished, remove the

connections from the fixture.

Check the Calibration Status

1. Select Probe Cal . . . from the Vertical menu.

2. Select the channel to which the probe is attached and

then check the Probe Status readout:

H Initialized. The probe has not been calibrated on

the selected channel; perform the DC probe cal­ibration procedure.

H Pass. The probe has been calibrated on the se-

lected channel.

H Fail. The probe has not been calibrated; repeat

the procedure. If the test continues to fail, trou-

2