Tektronix CR286A Clock Recovery Instrument

Overview

The Tektronix CR286A is a high-performance clock recovery instrument that measures and displays Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) frequency response from 100 kHz to 12 MHz, offering the highest loop bandwidth available for jitter testing on the market. The CR286A provides full control over critical PLL parameters including loop bandwidth, peaking/damping, and roll-off characteristics, making it ideal for standards compliance testing in next-generation serial I/O applications.

Key Features

• Variable loop bandwidth from 100 kHz to 12 MHz (optional 24 MHz for jitter transfer function analysis)
• Accurate, adjustable, self-measured, and displayed PLL loop bandwidth and peaking
• Programmable peaking adjustment with first- and second-order roll-off capability
• Full and divided clock outputs with selectable divide ratios up to 14.3 Gb/s
• Built-in equalizer with 0 to 10 dB equalization range for recovery under high ISI conditions
• Data measurement capabilities including edge density and spread spectrum waveform analysis
• Input sensitivity: 100 mV single ended, 50 mV differential (typical)
• Data rate coverage from 150 Mb/s to 28.6 Gb/s
• USB control interface integrated into BERTScope or stand-alone operation
• Optional direct spectral analysis and frequency-gated measurements

Applications

• Jitter measurement and analysis for high-speed serial standards (PCIe Gen 3, SATA 6G, USB 3.0)
• Spread spectrum clock (SSC) characterization with large frequency excursions
• Clock recovery for 10GBASE-KR, 16xFC, 25/28 G CEI, and 100GBASE standards
• Signal integrity testing for next-generation I/O interfaces