BEKG 1233– PRINCIPLES OF INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT

CHAPTER 4
Oscilloscope
1
Objectives

 explain the basic structure of oscilloscope.

 explain the oscilloscope electronic circuit
function.
 use an oscilloscope for a signal and phase
measurements.

2
Introduction
 Cathode Ray Oscilloscope (CRO) is probably the
most versatile tool for the development of electronic
circuits and systems.
 Electrical parameters that can be observed by means
of oscilloscopes are ac or dc voltage, indirect
measurement of ac or dc current, time, phase
relationships, frequency and a wide range of
waveform evaluation such as rise time, fall time,
ringing and overshoot.

3
Introduction
 The most vital component in an oscilloscope is the
Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) which is very much similar
to picture tube in a television set.
 The CRT makes the applied signal visible by the
deflection of thin beam of electrons.
 Oscilloscopes depend on the movement of electron
beam striking the fluorescent substance coated
screen which then produces visible spot.
 Beams are deflected on both X–axis and Y–axis
producing output of time–dependent variation of input
voltage.

4
Basic Principle
 In Cathode Ray Tube (CRT), electron gun is one of the important
components.
 It produces thin electron beam which the electrons will strike the
fluorescence (mostly phosphor) coated screen and causing the point of
collision to glow brightly.
 The beam is deflected by electrostatic or magnetic field and this causes
the spot to move accordingly and traces out a pattern.
 The brightness of the phosphorescent spot depends on the electron
beam.
 The more the electron striking the screen, the brighter it is.
 More electrons mean more current needed.
 The negative bias voltage applied to the control grid controls the beam
current, thus the intensity is greater.

5
Basic Principle

Intensity
control

Figure 3.1: CRT showing power supply circuit.

6
Basic Principle
 The electronic lens action is controlled by the focus control.
 If the control is turned to either of the sides of focusing position, the
spot becomes larger and blurred.
 When the beam is focused, this is due to the electrons are being
“forced” to align themselves in a row and strike at the very same
spot of the screen.
 The electron beam in the oscilloscope is deflected by means of an
electric field (electrostatic deflection).
 Whereas in TV picture tubes, electromagnetic deflection is most
commonly used.
 Electron are negatively charged particles, they are attracted by a
positive charge or field and repelled by a negative charge.
 In order to move the electron beam in the X and Y direction, the
horizontal and vertical deflection plates are used inside the CRT.

7
Basic Principle

Figure 3.2: Basic Diagram of CRT.

8
Basic Principle
 In Figure 3.2, when H1 is made positive with
respect to the cathode, it attracts the beam and
the spot moves horizontally to the left.
 Similarly when the V1 is made positive, the spot
moves vertically upwards.
 In each of these deflections, the displacement of
the beam is proportional to the voltage applied at
the plates.

9
Sweep Generator
 The horizontal sweep voltage produces the time
base by moving the spot horizontally with time.
 The signal moves the spot vertically in
proportional to the voltage at a particular instant
of time.
 There are two important sweep generator
requirements :
1) The sweep must be linear
2) The spot must move in one direction only.
 These requirements call for a sweep voltage
having a linear sawtooth waveform as shown in
Figure 3.3.

10
Sweep Generator

Sweep
voltage/Horizontal
deflection

Signal
voltage/Vertical
deflection
Display spot on
the screen

Figure 3.3: Waveform of Sweep Voltage. 11

Sweep Generator
 When sweep and signal frequencies are equal, a
single cycle appears on the screen.
 When the sweep frequency is lower than the
signal, several cycles appear (in the ratio of the
two frequencies).
 When the sweep frequency is higher than the
signal, less than one cycle appears.
 The display is stationary only when the two
frequencies are either equal or integral multiples
of each other.
 At other frequencies, the display will drift
horizontally.

12
Oscilloscope Components
 A general purpose CRO block diagram is shown in
Figure 3.4 and 3.5.
 It consists of several main blocks :
1) CRT
• The cathode ray tube which emits electrons to
the phosphor screen to display a signal.
2) Vertical Amplifier
• A wide band amplifier used to amplify signals in
the vertical section.
3) Time Base Generator
• It is used to generate the saw tooth voltage
required to deflect the beam in the horizontal
section.

13
Oscilloscope Components

Figure 3.4 : General Block Diagram of an Oscilloscope

14
Oscilloscope Components

Figure 3.5: Basic Oscilloscope Block Diagram

15
Oscilloscope Components
4) Horizontal Amplifier
• This are used to amplify the saw tooth
voltage generated by time base generator
before it is applied to horizontal deflection
plates.
5) Trigger circuit
• Convert the incoming signal into trigger
pulses so that the input signal and sweep
frequency can be synchronized.
6) Delay Line
• It is used to delay the signal for some time
in the vertical sections.

16
CRT
 The cathode ray tube emits electrons to the phosphor screen
internally to display signals.
 The screen is coated with a fluorescent material called phosphor.
 This material determines the colour which normally for oscilloscope
use blue, green and blue green are preferred, whereas the material
also determined for the trace resolution and trace length of time to
remain visible after the signal has ended.

17
Vertical Amplifier
 A wide band amplifier is used for signal amplification in the vertical
section.
 Since the gain–bandwidth of product is constant, narrowing the
bandwidth will produce greater sensitivity (gain) and vice versa
whereas some other oscilloscope provides alternatives such as wide
bandwidth position and switching to high sensitivity position.

Figure 3.6: Vertical Amplifier Block Diagram

18
Vertical Amplifier
 A shown in Figure 3.6, the vertical amplifier consists of several
stages, with fixed overall sensitivity or gain expressed in V/div.
 The FET input amplifier has a high input impedance to isolate the
amplifier from the attenuator. The main amplifier consists of a push
pull output amplifier to provide equal signal voltages of opposite
polarity to the vertical plates of the CRT.

19
Horizontal Deflection System
 The horizontal deflecting system consist a Time Base Generator and
an output amplifier.
 A continuous sweep CRO using a UJT as a time base generator is
shown in Figure 3.7. How does it work?

Figure 3.7: Time Base Generator Circuit (Sweep Generator)

20
Horizontal Deflection System
 When the power is first applied to the circuit, UJT is OFF and CT
charges exponentially through RT.
 UJT emitter voltage VE rises towards VBB and when VE reaches the
peak voltage VP, as in Figure 3.8, the emitter to base ‘1’ (B1) diode
becomes forward biased and UJT triggers ON.
 This causes low resistance discharge path for the capacitor until the
emitter voltage VE reaches minimum value and UJT turned OFF.
 The capacitor recharges for the next cycle.

Figure 3.8: Saw–tooth Output Waveform 21

Horizontal Deflection System
 RT is used for continuous control of frequency within a range and CT
is changed in steps for range changing.
 The sync pulse enables the sweep frequency to be exactly equal to
the input signal frequency.

22
Trigger Circuit (Triggered Sweep CRO)
 Using the continuous sweep, when attempting to display voice or
music signals, the pattern falls in and out of sync as the frequency
and amplitude of the music varies resulting in an unstable display.
 A triggered sweep can display such signals, and those of short
duration.
 In triggered mode, the input signal is used to generate substantial
pulses that trigger the sweep.
 This ensures that the sweep is always in step with the signal that
drives it. Figure 3.9 shows the triggered sweep circuit using UJT.

23
Trigger Circuit (Triggered Sweep CRO)

Figure 3.9: Triggered Sweep Circuit

24
Trigger Circuit (Triggered Sweep CRO)
 When circuit is first switched ON, UJT is in non–conducting stage.
 CT charges exponentially through RT towards VBB until diode
becomes forward biased and conducts.
 The capacitor voltage never reaches the peak voltage required for
UJT conduction but clamped at VD.
 If a negative pulse of sufficient amplitude is applied to the base and
the peak voltage, VP is momentarily lowered, the UJT fires.
 So, CT discharges rapidly through UJT until the maintaining voltage
of the UJT is reached.
 At this point, UJT switches OFF and the CT charges towards VBB.
 And the cycle repeats.
 As shown in Figure 3.10, saw–tooth output across the capacitor CT
is illustrated.

25
Trigger Circuit (Triggered Sweep CRO)

Figure 3.10: Output Waveform

26
Trigger Circuit (Triggered Sweep CRO)
 Other technique that might be considered is the trigger pulse circuit
as shown in Figure 3.11.
 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 pulse generator produces negative trigger pulses each time the
comparator output crosses its quiescent level.

Figure 3.11: Trigger Pulse Circuit 27

Delay Line
 It is used to delay the signal for some time in the vertical sections.
 Figure 3.12 shows the delay line circuit and the amplitude of the
signal with respect to time and the relative position of the sweep
generator output signal is shown in Figure 3.13.
 When the delay line is not in use, the initial part of the signal is lost
and only part of the signal is displayed.

Figure 3.13: Delay Line Waveform

Figure 3.12: Delay Line Circuit 28

Delay Line
 This disadvantage is offset by not applying signal directly to the
vertical plates but passed through delay line circuit.
 This gives time for the sweep to start at the horizontal plates before
the signal reached the vertical plates.
 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 of t0 + 80 ns. Hence the sweep
starts well in time since the signal arrives at VDP of t0 + 200 ns.

29
Attenuators
 Attenuators are designed to reduce the input
signal before entering the vertical amplifier.
 They are also used to give a constant impedance
on all ranges at the attenuator input.
 Figure 3.14 shows the most basic attenuator
using a simple resistive voltage divider.
 From the circuit, the attenuation can be
determined by the equation :
VO R
 (3-1)
Vi Rt

30
Attenuators
where :
R = total resistance from the desired attenuator
terminal to ground
Rt = total series resistance

 So, at position A, the input voltage will be attenuated by 10

/100 k = 0.001.
 The attenuation factor can be determined from the
reciprocal of equation (3-1).
 So, at position A, the attenuation factor is 1/0.001 = 1,000.

31
Attenuators

Fig 3.14: Resistive attenuator networks.

32
Compensated Attenuators
 The simple resistive attenuators is good for a DC
voltage measurement.
 In an AC voltage measurement, the capacitive
voltage dividers are used to improve the high
frequency (HF) response of the attenuators ( see
Figure 3.15 ).
 For a compensated attenuators, the voltage divider
ratio will remain constant over a wide range of
frequencies when the following relationship apply :

R1
R2  (3-2)
k 1
and
C2  C1 (k 1) (3-3)

33
Compensated Attenuators
where :
k = the voltage divider ratio, Vi / Vo

 From Figure 3.15 :

R2
VO   Vi
R1  R 2
Vi R 1  R 2
So, k    10
VO R2
and, C 2  C1 (10  1)  90 pF

34
Compensated Attenuators

Fig 3.15: Compensated Attenuator

35
Direct Probes (1:1)
 The simplest type of probe is the test lead.
 Since a CRO has high input impedance and high
sensitivity, the test leads should be shielded to avoid
hum pickup.
 The input capacitance of the scope and the stray
capacitance of the test leads may cause oscillation.
 To prevent the effect, the carbon resistor is used as
shown in Figure 3.16.
 However, this probe cause a slight reduction in the
waveform amplitude and a slight change in the
waveshape.
 To avoid this, the 10:1 high impedance probe is used.

36
Direct Probes (1:1)

Fig 3.16: Isolation Probe

37
High Impedance Probes (10:1)
 Figure 3.17 shows the high impedance probe (or 10:1
probe).
 The equivalent circuit is shown in Figure 3.18.
 The capacitor C1 is adjusted until the bridge is balanced
to get :

R 1X (C 2 Cin )  R in X C1 (3-4)

R1 R in
 
ω(C2  Cin ) ωC1
R 1C1  R in (C2  Cin ) (3-5)

38
High Impedance Probes (10:1)

Figure 3.17:10:1 Probe

Figure 3.18: Equivalent Circuit of 10:1 probe.

39
High Impedance Probes (10:1)
 When the bridge is balanced, X and Y are
equipotential and the attenuation of the signal is
10:1.
 The output voltage to the vertical amplifier input is
given by :
R in
Vout  (0.1) Vin  Vin  (3-6)
R 1  R in
 The capacitor C1 must be adjusted to obtain
optimum frequency response from the probe- CRO
combination.
 It can be done by connecting the probe tip to a
square wave of 1 kHz and observe the waveform
(see Figure 3.19).

40
High Impedance Probes (10:1)

Figure 3.19: Effect of Probe Compensation on a Square Wave

41
Applications of Oscilloscope
1) Voltage Measurement

 The peak-to-peak voltage value displayed on the

oscilloscope by observing the vertical attenuator
(volt/div) and using the formula :

 volts   no. of div 

Vp-p     (3-7)
 div   1 
 See Example 7.1 (textbook).

42
Applications of Oscilloscope
2) Period and Frequency Measurement

 To measure the frequency of a signal, the waveform

must be displayed such that a complete cycle is
displayed on the CRT to improve its accuracy.
 Then, the period is calculated using :

 time   no. of div 

T     (3-8)
 div   1 cycle 
 See Example 7.2 (textbook).
 The frequency is then calculated as f = 1/T (Hz).

43
Lissajous Patterns
 Lissajous pattern results when sine waves are applied
simultaneously to both pairs of the deflection plates.
 The unknown frequency (fV) is presented to the vertical
plate and the known frequency (fh) is presented to the
horizontal plate (see Figure 3.20-3.22).

1) Frequency Measurement

 To get the Lissajous figure, set the oscilloscope to the

external sweep, and switch off the sync control.

44
Lissajous Patterns
 To determine the frequency from any Lissajous figure,
use the formula : (for integral frequencies)

num. of horizontal loops

fV  fh (3-9)
num. of vertical loops
 See Figure 3.20
 For non-integral frequencies :

num. of horizontal tangencies

fV  fh (3-10)
num. of vertical tangencies
 See Figure 3.21

45
Lissajous Patterns
Example:
Two sine waves of equal phase and amplitude are applied to the
input terminals of an oscilloscope operating in the X-Y mode. If the
signal applied to the horizontal input is twice the frequency of the
vertical input signal, sketch lissajous waveform.

Solution:
fh  2 fv
fv 1

fh 2

46
Lissajous Patterns
Exercise:
Two sine waves of equal phase and amplitude are applied to the
input terminals of an oscilloscope operating in the X-Y mode. If the
signal applied to the vertical input is twice the frequency of the
horizontal input signal, sketch lissajous waveform.

47
Lissajous Patterns
2) Phase Measurement

 Oscilloscope can be used in the X-Y mode to determine

the phase angle between two signals of the same
frequency and amplitude.
 Figure 3.22 shows the Lissajous patterns for selected
phase angles.
 From Figure 3.23, the phase angle is determined by :

Y1
sin   (3-11)
Y2

48
Lissajous Patterns
where :
 = phase angle in degrees
Y1 = Y-axis intercept
Y2 = maximum vertical
deflection

Figure 3.23 : Evaluation of Phase Relationship

49
50
Lissajous Patterns
Example:

From Figure 3.23, determine the phase angle if Y1 = 1.8

cm, and Y2 = 2.3 cm.

Solution:

Y1 1.8 cm
sin θ    0.783
Y2 2.3 cm
 θ  51.5 o

51
Lissajous Patterns
Exercise:

1. From Figure 3.23, determine the phase angle if the

ratio of Y2 to Y1 is 1.25.
2. From Figure 3.23, determine Y1 if the phase angle is 0
and Y2=4cm

52
Overview of Digital Storage
Oscilloscope
 The digital storage oscilloscope, or DSO for short, is now the
preferred type for most industrial applications, although simple
analogue CROs are still used by hobbyists. It replaces the
unreliable storage method used in analogue storage scopes
with digital memory, which can store data as long as required
without degradation.
 It also allows complex processing of the signal by high-speed
digital signal processing circuits. The vertical input, instead of
driving the vertical amplifier, is digitized by an analog to digital
converter to create a data set that is stored in the memory of a
microprocessor. The data set is processed and then sent to the
display, which in early DSOs was a cathode ray tube, but is now
more likely to be an LCD flat panel. DSOs with colour LCD
displays are common.

53
Overview of Digital Storage
Oscilloscope
 The data set can be sent over a LAN or a WAN for processing
or archiving. The scope's own signal analysis software can
extract many useful time-domain features (e.g. rise time, pulse
width, amplitude), frequency spectra, histograms and statistics,
persistence maps, and a large number of parameters
meaningful to engineers in specialized fields such as
telecommunications, disk drive analysis and power electronics.

54