Signal processing circuit for electro-optic probe

摘要

A signal processing circuit is provided for an electro-optic probe, which is used to perform testing of a printed-circuit board of high-speed processing. When laser beams are incident on the electro-optic probe which is brought into contact with the printed-circuit board, they are changed in polarization and are then converted to electric signals. The electric signals are amplified and are then subjected to analog-to-digital conversion to produce digital data. The laser beams (or optical pulses) are generated based on sampling pulses used for sampling of the analog-to-digital conversion. Herein, the sampling pulses are created based on a sweep signal and a step-like signal. The sweep signal increases in level with a certain slope and then decreases suddenly in one period of a trigger pulse signal. The step-like signal increases in level in a step-like manner, wherein it is increased by a predetermined level in response to each of the sampling pulses. A comparator produces a pulse signal consisting of pulses, each of which appears when the sweep signal coincides with the step-like signal in levels. Then, a mask circuit allows output of only the necessary pulses of the comparator as the sampling pulses. An image display circuit stores a plurality of digital data therein, which are then rearranged in an order so that an image representing a measurement result is displayed.