UNIT-III

OSCILLOSCOPES
• CATHODE-RAY TUBE
• CATHODE-RAY OSCILLOSCOPE(CRO)
• TIME BASE CIRCUITS
• DELAY LINE
• HIGH FREQUENCY CRT
• LISSAJOUS PATTERNS
• PROBES FOR CRO
 CATHODE-RAY TUBE
• The electron gun or electron emitter, the deflecting system and the
fluorescent screen are the three major components of a general purpose
CRT.
Internal Structure of CRT
 Electron Gun
• In the electron gun of the CRT, electrons are emitted,
converted into a sharp beam and focused upon the
fluorescent screen.
• The electron beam consists of an indirectly heated cathode, a
control grid, an accelerating electrode and a focusing anode.
• The electrodes are connected to the base pins. The cathode
emitting the electrons is surrounded by a control grid with a
fine hole at its centre.
• The accelerated electron beam passes through the fine hole.
• The negative voltage at the control grid controls the flow of
electrons in the electron beam, and consequently, the
brightness of the spot on the CRO screen is controlled.
 The important features of CRT
• 1. Size: CRTs for oscilloscopes are available in sizes of 1, 2,3, 5,
and 7 inches. 3 inches is most common for portable
instruments.
For example a CRT having a number 5GPI .
• 2. Phosphor: The screen is coated with a fluorescent material
called Phosphor. This material determines the color and
persistence of the trace, both of which are indicated by the
phosphor.
The trace colors in electrostatic CRTs for oscilloscopes are
blue, green and Blue green. White is used in TVs and blue-
white, orange, and yellow are used for Radar. Persistence is
expressed as short, medium and long.
• Persistence refers to the length of time the trace remains on
the screen after the signal has ended.
Contd..
• The phosphor of the oscilloscope is designated as follows.
Pl --Green medium
P2--Blue green medium
P5--Blue very short
P11--Blue short
• Medium persistence traces are mostly used for general purpose
applications
Long persistence traces are used for transients, since they keep
the fast transient on the screen for observation after the
transient has disappear.
• Short persistence is needed for extremely high speed
phenomena, to prevent smearing and interference caused
when one image persists and overlaps with the next one.
• P11 phosphor is considered the best for photographing from
the CRT screen.
 Operating Voltages
• 3. Operating Voltages: the CRT requires a heater voltage
of 6.3 volts ac or dc at600mA.
Several dc voltages are listed below. The voltages vary
with the type of tube used.
(i) Negative grid (control) voltage 14 V to - 200 V.
(ii) Positive anode no. 1 (focusing anode) -100 V to - ll00
V
(iii) Positive anode no. 2 (accelerating anode) 600 V to
6000 V
(iv) Positive anode no. 3 (accelerating anode) 200 v to
20000 V in some cases
 Deflection Voltages
• Either ac or dc voltages will deflect the beam.
The distance through which the spot moves
on the screen is proportional to the dc, or
peak ac amplitude.
• The deflection sensitivity of the tube is usually
stated as the dc voltage (or peak ac voltage)
required for each cm of deflection of the spot
on the screen.
 Viewing Screen
• The viewing screen is the glass face plate, the
inside wall of which is coated with phosphor.
• The viewing screen is a rectangular screen
having graticules marked on it.
• The standard size used nowadays is 8 cm x l0
cm (8 cm on the vertical and 10 cm on
horizontal).
Each centimeter on the graticule corresponds
to one division (div).
Block diagram of a cathode-ray
oscilloscope:
 Power Supply
• There are two power supplies
—ve High Voltage (HV) supply is from — 1000 to — 1500 V.
+ve Low Voltage (LV) supply is from + 300 to 400 V.
• Advantages of using —ve HV Supply
The accelerating anodes and the deflection plates are close to
ground The ground potential protects the operator from HV
shocks when making connections to the plates.
• The deflection voltages are measured wrt ground, therefore
HV blocking or coupling capacitor are not needed, but low
voltage rating capacitors can be used for connecting the HV
supply to the vertical and horizontal
 Vertical Amplifier
• The sensitivity (gain) and frequency band
width (B.W.) response characteristics of the
oscilloscope are mainly determined by the
vertical amplifier.
• It consists of several stages, with fixed overall
sensitivity or gain expressed in V/divs.
• The advantage of fixed gain is that the
amplifier can be more easily designed to meet
the requirements of stability and B.W.
Vertical Amplifier
 Vertical Amplifier
• The vertical amplifier is kept within its signal
handling capability by proper selection of the
input attenuator switch.
• The first element of the pre-amplifier is the
input stage, often consisting of a FET source
follower whose high input impedance isolates
the amplifier from the attenuator.
• This FET input stage is followed by a BJT
emitter follower, to match the medium
impedance of FET output with the low
impedance input of the phase inverter.
 Vertical Amplifier
• This phase inverter provides two anti phase
output signals which are required to operate the
push-pull output amplifier.
• The push-pull output stage delivers equal signal
voltages of opposite polarity to the vertical plates
of the CRT.
• The advantages of push-pull operation in CRO are
similar to those obtained from push-pull
operation in other applications; better hum
voltage cancellation from the source or power
supply (i.e. dc), even harmonic suppression,
especially the large 2nd harmonic is cancelled
out, and greater power output per tube as a
result of even harmonic cancellation.
 Horizontal Deflecting System
It consists of a Time Base Generator, a Trigger Circuit
and a Horizontal amplifier
The time base generator controls the rate at which the
beam is scanned across the face of the CRT and is
adjusted from the front panel.
The trigger Circuit ensures that the horizontal sweep
starts at the same point of the Vertical input signal.
The Horizontal Amplifier is required to increase the
amplitude of the signals generated in the sweep
generator to the level required by the horizontal
deflection plates of the CRT.
SWEEP OR TIME BASE GENERATOR
• When the power is first applied, the UJT is off and
the CT changes exponentially through RT The UJT
emitter voltage VE rises towards VBB and when
VE reaches the peak voltage VP, as shown in Fig. the
emitter to base ‘1’ (B1) diode becomes forward
biased and the UJT triggers ON.
• This provides a low resistance discharge path and the
capacitor discharges rapidly. The emitter
voltage VE reaches the minimum value rapidly and
the UJT goes OFF. The capacitor recharges and the
cycle repeats.
• To improve sweep linearity, two separate voltage
supplies are used, a low voltage supply for UJT
and a high voltage supply for the RTCT circuit.
• RT is used for continuous control of frequency
within a range and CT is varied or changed in
steps for range changing. They are sometimes
called as timing resistor and timing capacitor
respectively.
• The sync pulse enables the sweep frequency to
be exactly equal to the input signal frequency, so
that the signal is locked on the screen and does
not drift.
Horizontal Amplifier

20
Trigger Pulse Circuit
 Trigger Pulse Circuit
• The Trigger Pulse Generator Circuit is activated by signals of a variety of shapes
and amplitudes, which are converted to trigger pulses of uniform amplitude for
the precision sweep operation. If the trigger level is set too low, the trigger
generator will not operate. On the other hand, if the level is too high, the UJT may
conduct for too long and part of the leading edge of the input signal may be lost.
The trigger input signal is applied to a voltage comparator whose reference level is
set by the Trigger Level control on the CRO front panel. The comparator circuit C
produces a change in the output whenever the trigger input exceeds the present
trigger levels. The pulse generator that follows the comparator produces —ve
trigger pulses each time the comparator output crosses its quiescent level, which
in turn triggers the sweep generator to start the next sweep. The trigger sweep
generator contains the stability or sync control, which prevents the display from
uttering or running on the screen. Stability is secured by proper adjustments of the
sweep speed. Sweep speed is adjustable by means of a sweep rate control and its
multiplier, i.e. range control. The timing resistance RT is used for sweep rate
control and timing capacitor CT is changed in steps for sweep rate control.
Delay line

23
Delay line

24
 DELAY LINE
• The diagram shows that when the delay line is
not used, the initial part of the signal is lost
and only part of the signal is displayed.
• To counteract this disadvantage the signal is
not applied directly to the vertical plates but is
passed through a delay line circuit.
• This gives time for the sweep to start at the
horizontal plates before the signal has reached
the vertical plates.
 Delay line
• The trigger pulse is picked off at a time t0
after the signal has passed through the main
amplifier.
• The sweep generator delivers the sweep to
the horizontal amplifier and the sweep
starts at the HDP at time t0 + 80 ns.
• Hence the sweep starts well in time, since the
signal arrives at the VDP at time t0 + 200 ns
 The lumped-parameter delay line Contd..

• The lumped-parameter delay line consists of a number of cascaded

symmetrical LLC networks, such as the so called T-section
• If the spectrum of input signal V, consists of frequency much less than the
cutoff frequency, output signal will be a faithful reproduction of but
delayed by a time.
• A number of T sections, cascaded into a so called lumped-parameter delay
line, increase the total delay time to.
The lumped-parameter delay line Contd..
The lumped-parameter delay line Contd..
 Distributed Parameter Delay Line

The distributed parameter delay line consists of

a specially manufactured coaxial cable with a
high value of inductance per unit length. For
this type of delay line, the straight center
conductor of the normal coaxial cable is
replaced with a continuous coil of wire,
wound in the form of a helix on a flexible
inner core
 HIGH FREQUENCY CRT

•In an ordinary CRO, there is only one pair of VDPs. When

the signal to be displayed is of a very high frequency,
the electron beam does not get sufficient time to pick up the
instantaneous level of the signal.
•At high frequencies the numbers of electrons striking the
screen in a given time and the intensity of the beam is
reduced.
•Hence, instead of one set of vertical deflection plates, a
series of vertical deflection plates are used.
 HIGH FREQUENCY CRT
• The plates are so shaped and spaced that an electron travelling along the
CRT receives from each set of plates an additional deflecting force in
proper time sequence.
• This synchronization is achieved by making the signal travel from one
plate to the next at the same speed as the transit time of the electrons.
• The signal is applied to each pair of plates, and as the electron beam
travels the signal also travels through the delay lines.
• The time delays are so arranged that the same electrons are deflected by
the input signal. In this way the electron beam picks up the level of the
input signal.
• The time delays between the plates correspond exactly to the transit
times of the electrons. (In addition, new fluorescent materials have now
been developed to increase the brightness at HF.)
 Characteristics of a HF CRO or
(HF Improvement in a CRO)
• The vertical amplifier must be designed both for high B.W. and high
sensitivity or gain.
• Making the vertical amplifier a fixed gain amplifier simplifies the design.
• The input to the amplifier is brought to the required level by means of an
attenuator circuit. The final stages is the push-pull stage.
• The LF CRT is replaced by an HF CRT.
• A probe is used to connect the signals, e.g. a high Z passive probe acts like
a compensated attenuator.
• By using a triggered sweep, for fast rising signals, and by the use of delay
lines between the vertical plates, for improvement of HF characteristics
• New fluorescent materials that increase the brightness of the display are
used.
 Lissajous patterns
• Lissajous figure is the pattern which is displayed on
the screen, when sinusoidal signals are applied to
both horizontal & vertical deflection plates of CRO.
These patterns will vary based on the amplitudes,
frequencies and phase differences of the sinusoidal
signals, which are applied to both horizontal &
vertical deflection plates of CRO
• Shape of these Lissajous pattern changes with
changes of phase difference between signal and ratio
of frequencies applied to the deflection plates
(traces) of CRO.
The above Lissajous figure is in elliptical shape and its major
axis has some inclination angle with positive x-axis.
 Applications of Lissajous Figures
We can do the following two
measurements from a Lissajous figure.
• Frequency of the sinusoidal signal
• Phase difference between two sinusoidal
signals
 Measurement of Frequency

• Lissajous figure will be displayed on the screen, when the

sinusoidal signals are applied to both horizontal & vertical
deflection plates of CRO.
• Hence, apply the sinusoidal signal, which has standard known
frequency to the horizontal deflection plates of CRO. Similarly,
apply the sinusoidal signal, whose frequency is unknown to
the vertical deflection plates
 Measurement of Phase Difference
• A Lissajous figure is displayed on the screen when
sinusoidal signals are applied to both horizontal &
vertical deflection plates of CRO. Hence, apply the
sinusoidal signals, which have same amplitude and
frequency to both horizontal and vertical deflection
plates of CRO.
• For few Lissajous figures based on their shape, we
can directly tell the phase difference between the
two sinusoidal signals.
 Phase Difference Measurement from Lissajous Figure

• If the Lissajous figure is a straight line with an inclination

of 45∘ with positive x-axis, then the phase
difference between the two sinusoidal signals will be 0∘. That
means, there is no phase difference between those two
sinusoidal signals.
• If the Lissajous figure is a straight line with an inclination
of 135∘ with positive x-axis, then the phase
difference between the two sinusoidal signals will be 180∘.
That means, those two sinusoidal signals are out of phase.
• If the Lissajous figure is in circular shape, then the phase
difference between the two sinusoidal signals will
be 90∘ or 270∘.
• We can calculate the phase difference between the
two sinusoidal signals by using formulae, when the
Lissajous figures are of elliptical shape.
• If the major axis of an elliptical shape Lissajous figure
having an inclination angle lies
Between 0∘ and 90∘ with positive x-axis, then the
phase difference Ф between the two sinusoidal
signals will be
Where,
x1 is the distance from the origin to the point on x-axis, where the elliptical shape Lissajous
figure intersects
x2 is the distance from the origin to the vertical tangent of elliptical shape Lissajous figure
y1 is the distance from the origin to the point on y-axis, where the elliptical shape Lissajous
figure intersects
y2 is the distance from the origin to the horizontal tangent of elliptical shape Lissajous
figure
Different shapes of Lissajous
patterns
 Measurement of frequency by
Lissajous method
To determine the ratio of frequencies of signal
by using the Lissajous pattern
Contd..
Contd…
CASE – I: WHEN, 0 O OR 270O---WHEN THE ANGLE IS IN THE RANGE OF 0 O OR 270OO, THE LISSAJOUS
PATTERN IS OF THE SHAPE OF ELLIPSE HAVING MAJOR AXIS PASSING THROUGH ORIGIN FROM FIRST
QUADRANT TO THIRD QUADRANT
CASE II: When 90oo or 180o --THE LISSAJOUS PATTERN IS OF THE SHAPE OF ELLIPSE HAVING MAJOR AXIS
PASSING THROUGH ORIGIN FROM SECOND QUADRANT TO FOURTH QUADRANT
 PROBES FOR CRO
• We should select the probe in such a way that
it should not create any loading issues with
the test circuit. So that we can analyze the test
circuit with the signals properly on CRO
screen.
• CRO probes should have the
following characteristics.
• High impedance
• High bandwidth
Types of CRO Probes
CRO probes can be classified into the following two types.
•Passive Probes
•Active Probes
 Passive Probes

As shown in the figure, the probe head consists of a parallel

combination of resistor, R1 and a variable capacitor, C1.
Similarly, the termination circuit consists of a parallel
combination of resistor, R2 and capacitor, C2.
balancing condition
of AC bridge.
Z1Z4=Z2Z3
Active Probes

•The Probe Head Consists Of A FET Source Follower In Cascade With

BJT Emitter Follower. The FET Source Follower Provides High Input
Impedance And Low Output Impedance.
•Whereas, The Purpose Of BJT Emitter Follower Is That It Avoids Or
Eliminates The Impedance Mismatching.
•The Other Two Parts, Such As Co-axial Cable And Termination Circuit
Remain Same In Both Active And Passive Probes.
•Designed to provide efficient coupling high freq,fast rise time signals to
CRO i/p.
 Active Probes

• If the probe head consists of active electronic

components, then it is called active probe.
The block diagram of active probe is shown in
below figure.
 PROBES FOR CRO

Direct probes(1:1)

The input capacitance of the Scope plus the Stray capacitance of

the test leads may cause ckt to break into oscillations.
This is avoided by using a carbon Resistor in series with the test
lead.
Drawback:
Slight reduction in amplitude and change in waveshape occurs with
this probe.
 Passive Voltage Probe(10:1)

Under condition balance we have:

R1×(Cin+C2)= Rin ×C1
R1 /w (Cin+C2) = Rin /w C1
R1 C1= Rin (Cin+C2)
X and Y are equipotential and the effect of the Probe is
equivalent to a potential divider of R1 and Rin.attn is 10:1
68
i.e ( R1+Rin)/R1=10:1