Tektronix SD-24 TDR/Sampling Head Teardown
I recently acquired a Tektronix CSA803C Sampling Oscilloscope which is sold in late 90s/early 2000s. It is used with modular sampling heads so I also acquired some sampling heads, and one of them, SD-24 TDR/Sampling Head with 17.5ps rise time (20Ghz) was broken so I tear it down. As it is a very high frequency component, the interior is pretty interesting, here are some photos taken with iPhone and with Stemi 508 stereo microscope. A few close-up images from microscope are stacked with Helicon Focus.
![The working SD-24 head mounted on CSA803C](1.jpg)
The working SD-24 head mounted on CSA803C
![The connector behind SD-24 that is connected to CSA803C](2.jpg)
The connector behind SD-24 that is connected to CSA803C
![The connector, 3 circular connectors are connected to rigid coax cables, these cables are connected to the board inside, you will see soon. I guess two of them are sampling the signal and one of them might be the strobe input from CSA803C.](3.jpg)
The connector, 3 circular connectors are connected to rigid coax cables, these cables are connected to the board inside, you will see soon. I guess two of them are sampling the signal and one of them might be the strobe input from CSA803C.
![SD-24 board, with a large (I think Tektronix made) IC](4.jpg)
SD-24 board, with a large (I think Tektronix made) IC
![SD-24 board other side, you can see the connections of coax cables coming from the connector](4-1.jpg)
SD-24 board other side, you can see the connections of coax cables coming from the connector
![The IC](4-2.jpg)
The IC
![The IC pins side](4-3.jpg)
The IC pins side
![IC removed, it is mounted on a socket but socket is pretty interesting](4-4.jpg)
IC removed, it is mounted on a socket but socket is pretty interesting
![close up IC socket](4-5.jpg)
close up IC socket
![The board under side, there are also other sockets here which are connected to the block below](4-6.jpg)
The board under side, there are also other sockets here which are connected to the block below
![here is the RF block, with pins connecting to the board, and you can see the SMA connectors that is connected to front](5.jpg)
here is the RF block, with pins connecting to the board, and you can see the SMA connectors that is connected to front
![another view of RF block](6.jpg)
another view of RF block
![RF block other side, opening this cover reveals the RF circuit](7.jpg)
RF block other side, opening this cover reveals the RF circuit
![RF circuits](13.jpg)
RF circuits
![RF circuit, close-up](14.jpg)
RF circuit, close-up
![RF circuit, close-up](15.jpg)
RF circuit, close-up
![RF circuit under microscope](44.jpg)
RF circuit under microscope
![RF circuit under microscope](56.jpg)
RF circuit under microscope
![RF circuit under microscope](66.jpg)
RF circuit under microscope
![RF circuit under microscope](81.jpg)
RF circuit under microscope
![RF circuit under microscope](82.jpg)
RF circuit under microscope
![RF circuit under microscope](84.jpg)
RF circuit under microscope
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