Reply by Bill Sloman September 11, 20202020-09-11
On Friday, September 11, 2020 at 2:07:19 AM UTC+10, John Larkin wrote:
> On Thu, 10 Sep 2020 08:50:35 -0700 (PDT), Lasse Langwadt Christensen > <lang...@fonz.dk> wrote: > > >torsdag den 10. september 2020 kl. 09.35.07 UTC+2 skrev Bill Sloman: > >> On Thursday, September 10, 2020 at 8:08:30 AM UTC+10, John Larkin wrote: > >> > On Wed, 9 Sep 2020 15:29:56 -0400, Phil Hobbs > >> > <pcdhSpamM...@electrooptical.net> wrote: > >> > > >> > >On 2020-09-09 13:23, John Larkin wrote: > >> > >> On Wed, 9 Sep 2020 12:24:50 -0400, Phil Hobbs > >> > >> <pcdhSpamM...@electrooptical.net> wrote: > >> > >> > >> > >>> On 2020-09-08 15:38, whit3rd wrote: > >> > >>>> On Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 7:59:34 AM UTC-7, John Larkin wrote: > >> > >> > I was shocked when I tested that ACT04. I was used to CMOS being slow, > >> > and its edges were as fast as 10K ECL. And a lot bigger. > >> > >> ECL was always designed to drive 50R transmission lines. > >> > >> A 1.2V swing into 50R is 24mA, and that's enough to get the driver warm. > >> > >> National Semiconductors LVDS uses the same voltage swing for the same reason. Most of us have known about this for some forty years now, but John gets shocked when he runs into it. > >> > > > >what are you on about? John saw that an ATC04 was just as fast with a bigger swing
But didn't seem to be aware that terminating that larger swing at the other end of a transmission line was going to be tricky.
> >and LVDS isn't some National Semiconductors special it is a standard and the swing is only 450mV or 4.5mA > And standard ECL swings about 0.8, not 1.2. The voltage across a > pulldown resistor could be anything.
If the resistor is being used to terminate a transmission line there's a big temptation to return it to a -2V rail. There are all sorts of ways of skinning that particular cat
> A few ECL parts, like EL89, swing close to 2 volts. That can be handy.
It's a very specialised part designed to drive lines that are driven from a resistance equal the cables' characteristic impedance, and terminated at the receiving end another such resistance, halving the signal swing at the receiving end https://www.onsemi.jp/pub/Collateral/MC10EL89-D.PDF "The device is especially useful in Digital VideoBroadcasting applications; " which tend to involve rather long cables and don't tolerate much in the way of reflection.
> CML usually swings about 0.4 at the termination. I haven't tried them > unterminated; I should.
It might be educational. You should have got that bit of education at Tulane, but it was probably covered in one the lectures you skipped.
> We're playing with the idea building a distributed amplifier with > discrete fets; I have an EE prof doing the math. The arbitrary goal is > to make 50 volt pulses with 50 ps edges. If the output stage works, > the next problem will be to come up with a fast gate-line driver with > sufficient swing. The problem keeps moving left.
Bill Percival invented - and patented - the distributed amplifier in 1936. I met him once when I was working at EMI Central Research. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_amplifier
> The Tek 545 used a distributed amp made from tubes. We should be able > to do that with fets.
I did it with broad-band transistors in 1983. It sort of worked - we got two 800psec wide complementary pulses swinging through 7V out of a string of three long-tail pairs of cheap 5GHz broad band transistors, but two bigger - and much more expensive - HP rf transistors eventually got us to 500psec with a much simpler circuit. You can now buy cheap 110GHz bipolar broad-band transistors, which might get you down to 50psec but they won't do 50V, unless you stack up a few transmission line transformers. Exotic FETs are a different ball game. -- Bill Sloman,Sydney
Reply by Bill Sloman September 11, 20202020-09-11
On Friday, September 11, 2020 at 1:50:42 AM UTC+10, lang...@fonz.dk wrote:
> torsdag den 10. september 2020 kl. 09.35.07 UTC+2 skrev Bill Sloman: > > On Thursday, September 10, 2020 at 8:08:30 AM UTC+10, John Larkin wrote: > > > On Wed, 9 Sep 2020 15:29:56 -0400, Phil Hobbs > > > <pcdhSpamM...@electrooptical.net> wrote: > > > > > > >On 2020-09-09 13:23, John Larkin wrote: > > > >> On Wed, 9 Sep 2020 12:24:50 -0400, Phil Hobbs > > > >> <pcdhSpamM...@electrooptical.net> wrote: > > > >> > > > >>> On 2020-09-08 15:38, whit3rd wrote: > > > >>>> On Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 7:59:34 AM UTC-7, John Larkin wrote: > > > > > I was shocked when I tested that ACT04. I was used to CMOS being slow, > > > and its edges were as fast as 10K ECL. And a lot bigger. > > > > ECL was always designed to drive 50R transmission lines. > > > > A 1.2V swing into 50R is 24mA, and that's enough to get the driver warm. > > > > National Semiconductors LVDS uses the same voltage swing for the same reason. Most of us have known about this for some forty years now, but John gets shocked when he runs into it. > > > what are you on about? John saw that an ATC04 was just as fast with a bigger swing
But you can't send it anywhere and expect the signal to retain the fast edges without pushing it into a transmission line.
> and LVDS isn't some National Semiconductors special it is a standard and the swing is only 450mV or 4.5mA
It's a standard now, but it started off as a range of National Semiconductor parts. At the time there were several back-plane standards that didn't work well for rack-length back planes and fast signals. I'd been using ECL for that kind of job, but it meant a -4.5V negative rail, and a -2V rail for the terminating resistors. When LVDS became widely available life got quite a bit easier. -- Bill Sloman, Sydney
Reply by John Miles, KE5FX September 11, 20202020-09-11
On Thursday, September 10, 2020 at 12:45:00 PM UTC-7, John Larkin wrote:
> The 545 also had a differential signal delay line that was made of > tunable t-coils. The tuning procedure was iterative. Must have taken > hours. I think the 585 had two cascaded banks of distributed amps.
Kurt Rosenfeld of TekWiki found a whole box of vintage internal documents a while back, including factory cal procedures. The original procedures are probably buried in there somewhere: http://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/545 http://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/585 http://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/Distributed_amplifier -- john, KE5FX
Reply by John Larkin September 10, 20202020-09-10
On Thu, 10 Sep 2020 23:05:42 +0100, Chris <xxx.syseng.yyy@gfsys.co.uk>
wrote:

>On 09/10/20 20:44, John Larkin wrote: >> On Thu, 10 Sep 2020 18:16:43 +0100, Chris<xxx.syseng.yyy@gfsys.co.uk> >> wrote: >> >>> On 09/10/20 17:16, Phil Hobbs wrote: >>>> On 2020-09-10 12:07, John Larkin wrote: >>>>> On Thu, 10 Sep 2020 08:50:35 -0700 (PDT), Lasse Langwadt Christensen >>>>> <langwadt@fonz.dk> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> torsdag den 10. september 2020 kl. 09.35.07 UTC+2 skrev Bill Sloman: >>>>>>> On Thursday, September 10, 2020 at 8:08:30 AM UTC+10, John Larkin >>>>>>> wrote: >>>>>>>> On Wed, 9 Sep 2020 15:29:56 -0400, Phil Hobbs >>>>>>>> <pcdhSpamM...@electrooptical.net> wrote: >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> On 2020-09-09 13:23, John Larkin wrote: >>>>>>>>>> On Wed, 9 Sep 2020 12:24:50 -0400, Phil Hobbs >>>>>>>>>> <pcdhSpamM...@electrooptical.net> wrote: >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> On 2020-09-08 15:38, whit3rd wrote: >>>>>>>>>>>> On Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 7:59:34 AM UTC-7, John Larkin >>>>>>>>>>>> wrote: >>>>>>>> I was shocked when I tested that ACT04. I was used to CMOS being slow, >>>>>>>> and its edges were as fast as 10K ECL. And a lot bigger. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> ECL was always designed to drive 50R transmission lines. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> A 1.2V swing into 50R is 24mA, and that's enough to get the driver >>>>>>> warm. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> National Semiconductors LVDS uses the same voltage swing for the >>>>>>> same reason. Most of us have known about this for some forty years >>>>>>> now, but John gets shocked when he runs into it. >>>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> what are you on about? John saw that an ATC04 was just as fast with a >>>>>> bigger swing >>>>>> >>>>>> and LVDS isn't some National Semiconductors special it is a standard >>>>>> and the swing is only 450mV or 4.5mA >>>>> >>>>> And standard ECL swings about 0.8, not 1.2. The voltage across a >>>>> pulldown resistor could be anything. >>>>> >>>>> A few ECL parts, like EL89, swing close to 2 volts. That can be handy. >>>>> >>>>> CML usually swings about 0.4 at the termination. I haven't tried them >>>>> unterminated; I should. >>>>> >>>>> We're playing with the idea building a distributed amplifier with >>>>> discrete fets; I have an EE prof doing the math. The arbitrary goal is >>>>> to make 50 volt pulses with 50 ps edges. If the output stage works, >>>>> the next problem will be to come up with a fast gate-line driver with >>>>> sufficient swing. The problem keeps moving left. >>>>> >>>>> The Tek 545 used a distributed amp made from tubes. We should be able >>>>> to do that with fets. >>>> >>>> Hopefully with fewer tweaks. Some of those distributed-deflection tubes >>>> were monsters. >>>> >>>> Cheers >>>> >>>> Phil Hobbs >>>> >>>> >>> >>> I remember chasing the ripples down the line in Tek 551 distributed >>> amplifiers. Pain in the whatsit to get right and very time consuming. >>> Varied with temperature and tube (12BH7 ?) life as well... >>> >>> Chris >>> >>> >>> >> >> The 545 also had a differential signal delay line that was made of >> tunable t-coils. The tuning procedure was iterative. Must have taken >> hours. I think the 585 had two cascaded banks of distributed amps. >> >> The 519 managed 1 GHz, with no amps at all. The deflection plates were >> distributed, vaguely the same idea. > >I remember seeing a 519 around 1966-67. It was being used for laser >research fwir. 1 Ghz real time bandwidth, but as you say, not that >sensitive with y input direct to the plates. The bandwidth was >revolutionary for it's time though. Scope camera on it as well. Yes, >am that old but try to stay awake :-).
Los Alamos used many 519s with cameras to record certain one-shot events. They also had a home-made scope that recorded longish transients on eight stacked scan lines of a pretty big CRT. Recording one DHART shot was a massive project. Los Alamos Sales had a bunch of 519s out in the rain in the parking lot. I didn't want to lug one home, so they let me have a CRT for $20 or something. https://www.dropbox.com/s/r6c3zkwlqrayt53/519_CRT.JPG?raw=1 It's single-ended distributed-deflection on the vertical axis. The screen was tiny. http://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/519 I like the tube but the scope itself was really ugly. It used some big ole transmitting tube in the horizontal sweep.
> >> >> The early Tek stuff was hand-wired and had selected parts and lots of >> tuning. Labor intensive. > >I think some of HP kit was the same and can be very difficult to restore >because of the hand selected parts. Can't just replace with >a stock 2n part number and get the same results. > >> >> There are lots of IC distributed amps around now, mostly to drive >> telecom fiber modulators. They are fairly expensive ($200 range) and >> have wimpy voltage swings. >> > >Still not trivial to design and build a very high speed, high voltage >amplifier...
We recently released this: http://www.highlandtechnology.com/DSS/J270DS.shtml The output stage baby board took me lots of simulation and three official PCB iterations. Tiny things start to matter below 1 ns. Spice stops being believable down there. -- John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc trk The cork popped merrily, and Lord Peter rose to his feet. "Bunter", he said, "I give you a toast. The triumph of Instinct over Reason"
Reply by Chris September 10, 20202020-09-10
On 09/10/20 20:44, John Larkin wrote:
> On Thu, 10 Sep 2020 18:16:43 +0100, Chris<xxx.syseng.yyy@gfsys.co.uk> > wrote: > >> On 09/10/20 17:16, Phil Hobbs wrote: >>> On 2020-09-10 12:07, John Larkin wrote: >>>> On Thu, 10 Sep 2020 08:50:35 -0700 (PDT), Lasse Langwadt Christensen >>>> <langwadt@fonz.dk> wrote: >>>> >>>>> torsdag den 10. september 2020 kl. 09.35.07 UTC+2 skrev Bill Sloman: >>>>>> On Thursday, September 10, 2020 at 8:08:30 AM UTC+10, John Larkin >>>>>> wrote: >>>>>>> On Wed, 9 Sep 2020 15:29:56 -0400, Phil Hobbs >>>>>>> <pcdhSpamM...@electrooptical.net> wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> On 2020-09-09 13:23, John Larkin wrote: >>>>>>>>> On Wed, 9 Sep 2020 12:24:50 -0400, Phil Hobbs >>>>>>>>> <pcdhSpamM...@electrooptical.net> wrote: >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> On 2020-09-08 15:38, whit3rd wrote: >>>>>>>>>>> On Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 7:59:34 AM UTC-7, John Larkin >>>>>>>>>>> wrote: >>>>>>> I was shocked when I tested that ACT04. I was used to CMOS being slow, >>>>>>> and its edges were as fast as 10K ECL. And a lot bigger. >>>>>> >>>>>> ECL was always designed to drive 50R transmission lines. >>>>>> >>>>>> A 1.2V swing into 50R is 24mA, and that's enough to get the driver >>>>>> warm. >>>>>> >>>>>> National Semiconductors LVDS uses the same voltage swing for the >>>>>> same reason. Most of us have known about this for some forty years >>>>>> now, but John gets shocked when he runs into it. >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> what are you on about? John saw that an ATC04 was just as fast with a >>>>> bigger swing >>>>> >>>>> and LVDS isn't some National Semiconductors special it is a standard >>>>> and the swing is only 450mV or 4.5mA >>>> >>>> And standard ECL swings about 0.8, not 1.2. The voltage across a >>>> pulldown resistor could be anything. >>>> >>>> A few ECL parts, like EL89, swing close to 2 volts. That can be handy. >>>> >>>> CML usually swings about 0.4 at the termination. I haven't tried them >>>> unterminated; I should. >>>> >>>> We're playing with the idea building a distributed amplifier with >>>> discrete fets; I have an EE prof doing the math. The arbitrary goal is >>>> to make 50 volt pulses with 50 ps edges. If the output stage works, >>>> the next problem will be to come up with a fast gate-line driver with >>>> sufficient swing. The problem keeps moving left. >>>> >>>> The Tek 545 used a distributed amp made from tubes. We should be able >>>> to do that with fets. >>> >>> Hopefully with fewer tweaks. Some of those distributed-deflection tubes >>> were monsters. >>> >>> Cheers >>> >>> Phil Hobbs >>> >>> >> >> I remember chasing the ripples down the line in Tek 551 distributed >> amplifiers. Pain in the whatsit to get right and very time consuming. >> Varied with temperature and tube (12BH7 ?) life as well... >> >> Chris >> >> >> > > The 545 also had a differential signal delay line that was made of > tunable t-coils. The tuning procedure was iterative. Must have taken > hours. I think the 585 had two cascaded banks of distributed amps. > > The 519 managed 1 GHz, with no amps at all. The deflection plates were > distributed, vaguely the same idea.
I remember seeing a 519 around 1966-67. It was being used for laser research fwir. 1 Ghz real time bandwidth, but as you say, not that sensitive with y input direct to the plates. The bandwidth was revolutionary for it's time though. Scope camera on it as well. Yes, am that old but try to stay awake :-).
> > The early Tek stuff was hand-wired and had selected parts and lots of > tuning. Labor intensive.
I think some of HP kit was the same and can be very difficult to restore because of the hand selected parts. Can't just replace with a stock 2n part number and get the same results.
> > There are lots of IC distributed amps around now, mostly to drive > telecom fiber modulators. They are fairly expensive ($200 range) and > have wimpy voltage swings. >
Still not trivial to design and build a very high speed, high voltage amplifier... Chris
Reply by John Larkin September 10, 20202020-09-10
On Thu, 10 Sep 2020 18:16:43 +0100, Chris <xxx.syseng.yyy@gfsys.co.uk>
wrote:

>On 09/10/20 17:16, Phil Hobbs wrote: >> On 2020-09-10 12:07, John Larkin wrote: >>> On Thu, 10 Sep 2020 08:50:35 -0700 (PDT), Lasse Langwadt Christensen >>> <langwadt@fonz.dk> wrote: >>> >>>> torsdag den 10. september 2020 kl. 09.35.07 UTC+2 skrev Bill Sloman: >>>>> On Thursday, September 10, 2020 at 8:08:30 AM UTC+10, John Larkin >>>>> wrote: >>>>>> On Wed, 9 Sep 2020 15:29:56 -0400, Phil Hobbs >>>>>> <pcdhSpamM...@electrooptical.net> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>> On 2020-09-09 13:23, John Larkin wrote: >>>>>>>> On Wed, 9 Sep 2020 12:24:50 -0400, Phil Hobbs >>>>>>>> <pcdhSpamM...@electrooptical.net> wrote: >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> On 2020-09-08 15:38, whit3rd wrote: >>>>>>>>>> On Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 7:59:34 AM UTC-7, John Larkin >>>>>>>>>> wrote: >>>>>> I was shocked when I tested that ACT04. I was used to CMOS being slow, >>>>>> and its edges were as fast as 10K ECL. And a lot bigger. >>>>> >>>>> ECL was always designed to drive 50R transmission lines. >>>>> >>>>> A 1.2V swing into 50R is 24mA, and that's enough to get the driver >>>>> warm. >>>>> >>>>> National Semiconductors LVDS uses the same voltage swing for the >>>>> same reason. Most of us have known about this for some forty years >>>>> now, but John gets shocked when he runs into it. >>>>> >>>> >>>> what are you on about? John saw that an ATC04 was just as fast with a >>>> bigger swing >>>> >>>> and LVDS isn't some National Semiconductors special it is a standard >>>> and the swing is only 450mV or 4.5mA >>> >>> And standard ECL swings about 0.8, not 1.2. The voltage across a >>> pulldown resistor could be anything. >>> >>> A few ECL parts, like EL89, swing close to 2 volts. That can be handy. >>> >>> CML usually swings about 0.4 at the termination. I haven't tried them >>> unterminated; I should. >>> >>> We're playing with the idea building a distributed amplifier with >>> discrete fets; I have an EE prof doing the math. The arbitrary goal is >>> to make 50 volt pulses with 50 ps edges. If the output stage works, >>> the next problem will be to come up with a fast gate-line driver with >>> sufficient swing. The problem keeps moving left. >>> >>> The Tek 545 used a distributed amp made from tubes. We should be able >>> to do that with fets. >> >> Hopefully with fewer tweaks. Some of those distributed-deflection tubes >> were monsters. >> >> Cheers >> >> Phil Hobbs >> >> > >I remember chasing the ripples down the line in Tek 551 distributed >amplifiers. Pain in the whatsit to get right and very time consuming. >Varied with temperature and tube (12BH7 ?) life as well... > >Chris > > >
The 545 also had a differential signal delay line that was made of tunable t-coils. The tuning procedure was iterative. Must have taken hours. I think the 585 had two cascaded banks of distributed amps. The 519 managed 1 GHz, with no amps at all. The deflection plates were distributed, vaguely the same idea. The early Tek stuff was hand-wired and had selected parts and lots of tuning. Labor intensive. There are lots of IC distributed amps around now, mostly to drive telecom fiber modulators. They are fairly expensive ($200 range) and have wimpy voltage swings. -- John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc trk The cork popped merrily, and Lord Peter rose to his feet. "Bunter", he said, "I give you a toast. The triumph of Instinct over Reason"
Reply by Chris September 10, 20202020-09-10
On 09/10/20 17:16, Phil Hobbs wrote:
> On 2020-09-10 12:07, John Larkin wrote: >> On Thu, 10 Sep 2020 08:50:35 -0700 (PDT), Lasse Langwadt Christensen >> <langwadt@fonz.dk> wrote: >> >>> torsdag den 10. september 2020 kl. 09.35.07 UTC+2 skrev Bill Sloman: >>>> On Thursday, September 10, 2020 at 8:08:30 AM UTC+10, John Larkin >>>> wrote: >>>>> On Wed, 9 Sep 2020 15:29:56 -0400, Phil Hobbs >>>>> <pcdhSpamM...@electrooptical.net> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> On 2020-09-09 13:23, John Larkin wrote: >>>>>>> On Wed, 9 Sep 2020 12:24:50 -0400, Phil Hobbs >>>>>>> <pcdhSpamM...@electrooptical.net> wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> On 2020-09-08 15:38, whit3rd wrote: >>>>>>>>> On Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 7:59:34 AM UTC-7, John Larkin >>>>>>>>> wrote: >>>>> I was shocked when I tested that ACT04. I was used to CMOS being slow, >>>>> and its edges were as fast as 10K ECL. And a lot bigger. >>>> >>>> ECL was always designed to drive 50R transmission lines. >>>> >>>> A 1.2V swing into 50R is 24mA, and that's enough to get the driver >>>> warm. >>>> >>>> National Semiconductors LVDS uses the same voltage swing for the >>>> same reason. Most of us have known about this for some forty years >>>> now, but John gets shocked when he runs into it. >>>> >>> >>> what are you on about? John saw that an ATC04 was just as fast with a >>> bigger swing >>> >>> and LVDS isn't some National Semiconductors special it is a standard >>> and the swing is only 450mV or 4.5mA >> >> And standard ECL swings about 0.8, not 1.2. The voltage across a >> pulldown resistor could be anything. >> >> A few ECL parts, like EL89, swing close to 2 volts. That can be handy. >> >> CML usually swings about 0.4 at the termination. I haven't tried them >> unterminated; I should. >> >> We're playing with the idea building a distributed amplifier with >> discrete fets; I have an EE prof doing the math. The arbitrary goal is >> to make 50 volt pulses with 50 ps edges. If the output stage works, >> the next problem will be to come up with a fast gate-line driver with >> sufficient swing. The problem keeps moving left. >> >> The Tek 545 used a distributed amp made from tubes. We should be able >> to do that with fets. > > Hopefully with fewer tweaks. Some of those distributed-deflection tubes > were monsters. > > Cheers > > Phil Hobbs > >
I remember chasing the ripples down the line in Tek 551 distributed amplifiers. Pain in the whatsit to get right and very time consuming. Varied with temperature and tube (12BH7 ?) life as well... Chris
Reply by Phil Hobbs September 10, 20202020-09-10
On 2020-09-10 12:07, John Larkin wrote:
> On Thu, 10 Sep 2020 08:50:35 -0700 (PDT), Lasse Langwadt Christensen > <langwadt@fonz.dk> wrote: > >> torsdag den 10. september 2020 kl. 09.35.07 UTC+2 skrev Bill Sloman: >>> On Thursday, September 10, 2020 at 8:08:30 AM UTC+10, John Larkin wrote: >>>> On Wed, 9 Sep 2020 15:29:56 -0400, Phil Hobbs >>>> <pcdhSpamM...@electrooptical.net> wrote: >>>> >>>>> On 2020-09-09 13:23, John Larkin wrote: >>>>>> On Wed, 9 Sep 2020 12:24:50 -0400, Phil Hobbs >>>>>> <pcdhSpamM...@electrooptical.net> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>> On 2020-09-08 15:38, whit3rd wrote: >>>>>>>> On Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 7:59:34 AM UTC-7, John Larkin wrote: >>> >>>> I was shocked when I tested that ACT04. I was used to CMOS being slow, >>>> and its edges were as fast as 10K ECL. And a lot bigger. >>> >>> ECL was always designed to drive 50R transmission lines. >>> >>> A 1.2V swing into 50R is 24mA, and that's enough to get the driver warm. >>> >>> National Semiconductors LVDS uses the same voltage swing for the same reason. Most of us have known about this for some forty years now, but John gets shocked when he runs into it. >>> >> >> what are you on about? John saw that an ATC04 was just as fast with a bigger swing >> >> and LVDS isn't some National Semiconductors special it is a standard and the swing is only 450mV or 4.5mA > > And standard ECL swings about 0.8, not 1.2. The voltage across a > pulldown resistor could be anything. > > A few ECL parts, like EL89, swing close to 2 volts. That can be handy. > > CML usually swings about 0.4 at the termination. I haven't tried them > unterminated; I should. > > We're playing with the idea building a distributed amplifier with > discrete fets; I have an EE prof doing the math. The arbitrary goal is > to make 50 volt pulses with 50 ps edges. If the output stage works, > the next problem will be to come up with a fast gate-line driver with > sufficient swing. The problem keeps moving left. > > The Tek 545 used a distributed amp made from tubes. We should be able > to do that with fets.
Hopefully with fewer tweaks. Some of those distributed-deflection tubes were monsters. Cheers Phil Hobbs -- Dr Philip C D Hobbs Principal Consultant ElectroOptical Innovations LLC / Hobbs ElectroOptics Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics Briarcliff Manor NY 10510 http://electrooptical.net http://hobbs-eo.com
Reply by John Larkin September 10, 20202020-09-10
On Thu, 10 Sep 2020 08:50:35 -0700 (PDT), Lasse Langwadt Christensen
<langwadt@fonz.dk> wrote:

>torsdag den 10. september 2020 kl. 09.35.07 UTC+2 skrev Bill Sloman: >> On Thursday, September 10, 2020 at 8:08:30 AM UTC+10, John Larkin wrote: >> > On Wed, 9 Sep 2020 15:29:56 -0400, Phil Hobbs >> > <pcdhSpamM...@electrooptical.net> wrote: >> > >> > >On 2020-09-09 13:23, John Larkin wrote: >> > >> On Wed, 9 Sep 2020 12:24:50 -0400, Phil Hobbs >> > >> <pcdhSpamM...@electrooptical.net> wrote: >> > >> >> > >>> On 2020-09-08 15:38, whit3rd wrote: >> > >>>> On Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 7:59:34 AM UTC-7, John Larkin wrote: >> >> > I was shocked when I tested that ACT04. I was used to CMOS being slow, >> > and its edges were as fast as 10K ECL. And a lot bigger. >> >> ECL was always designed to drive 50R transmission lines. >> >> A 1.2V swing into 50R is 24mA, and that's enough to get the driver warm. >> >> National Semiconductors LVDS uses the same voltage swing for the same reason. Most of us have known about this for some forty years now, but John gets shocked when he runs into it. >> > >what are you on about? John saw that an ATC04 was just as fast with a bigger swing > >and LVDS isn't some National Semiconductors special it is a standard and the swing is only 450mV or 4.5mA
And standard ECL swings about 0.8, not 1.2. The voltage across a pulldown resistor could be anything. A few ECL parts, like EL89, swing close to 2 volts. That can be handy. CML usually swings about 0.4 at the termination. I haven't tried them unterminated; I should. We're playing with the idea building a distributed amplifier with discrete fets; I have an EE prof doing the math. The arbitrary goal is to make 50 volt pulses with 50 ps edges. If the output stage works, the next problem will be to come up with a fast gate-line driver with sufficient swing. The problem keeps moving left. The Tek 545 used a distributed amp made from tubes. We should be able to do that with fets. -- John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc trk The cork popped merrily, and Lord Peter rose to his feet. "Bunter", he said, "I give you a toast. The triumph of Instinct over Reason"
Reply by Lasse Langwadt Christensen September 10, 20202020-09-10
torsdag den 10. september 2020 kl. 09.35.07 UTC+2 skrev Bill Sloman:
> On Thursday, September 10, 2020 at 8:08:30 AM UTC+10, John Larkin wrote: > > On Wed, 9 Sep 2020 15:29:56 -0400, Phil Hobbs > > <pcdhSpamM...@electrooptical.net> wrote: > > > > >On 2020-09-09 13:23, John Larkin wrote: > > >> On Wed, 9 Sep 2020 12:24:50 -0400, Phil Hobbs > > >> <pcdhSpamM...@electrooptical.net> wrote: > > >> > > >>> On 2020-09-08 15:38, whit3rd wrote: > > >>>> On Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 7:59:34 AM UTC-7, John Larkin wrote: > > > I was shocked when I tested that ACT04. I was used to CMOS being slow, > > and its edges were as fast as 10K ECL. And a lot bigger. > > ECL was always designed to drive 50R transmission lines. > > A 1.2V swing into 50R is 24mA, and that's enough to get the driver warm. > > National Semiconductors LVDS uses the same voltage swing for the same reason. Most of us have known about this for some forty years now, but John gets shocked when he runs into it. >
what are you on about? John saw that an ATC04 was just as fast with a bigger swing and LVDS isn't some National Semiconductors special it is a standard and the swing is only 450mV or 4.5mA