Fast Oscilloscopes Use Reed Relays in Their Feedback Loops

Introduction

Electronics based products play an indispensable role in our everyday world, even though we cannot see the waveforms and interaction within the product at the component level.  However, in the typical electronics lab, it is very important for the design engineer to be able to “look” into a circuit and “see” what is happening.  Oscilloscopes are what allow this to happen.  Engineers many years ago invented the oscilloscope that portrays voltages and currents in a visual fashion on a CRT (cathode ray tube).  The oscilloscope technology has now totally gone over to LCD screens for visual portrayal.  Now with increasing speeds and fast pulses making up the digital world, oscilloscope designers have been challenged to develop the ability to portray these fast digital pulses.  Standex Electronics’s reed relays play a key role in the necessary feedback loops for operational amplifiers within the oscilloscope.

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