Monday, December 10, 2012: Tektronix, Inc., a leading worldwide provider of test, measurement and monitoring instrumentation, today announced that it is adding full electrical verification and conformance test support for JEDEC DDR4, DDR3L and LPDDR3 standards, giving design engineers the tools they need to bring chips and systems that incorporate these next generation memory technologies to market.
As memory standards published by JEDEC continue to evolve to higher speeds and reduced power consumption, debug and validation challenges increase as well. For instance, the faster read/write access and lower operating voltages of the new standards require improved signal fidelity from test fixtures. DDR4 introduces a number of new, more complex tests including variable VRef, Eye Masks and Jitter. With the only oscilloscope-based JEDEC conformance solution in the industry that supports all variants of DDR, Tektronix speeds up engineering PHY verification of JEDEC standards testing.
“JEDEC is pleased that member company Tektronix is providing test and measurement support for the DDR4 and LPDDR3 standards,” said John Kelly, JEDEC President. “Industry support is critical to the success of JEDEC standards, helping to ensure interoperability and maximum performance for memory devices developed around the world.”
To support memory interface electrical conformance testing and debug of the new standards, Tektronix now offers integrated support for the next generation memory standards in its popular DDRA analysis software. Available for MSO/DPO/DSA70000, DPO7000 and MSO/DPO5000 Series oscilloscopes, it now supports all generations of DDR standards, from the first generation through to the cutting edge. By automating test setup and execution, DDRA gives memory designers the confidence that they are in full conformance with memory standards. Should a memory system fail conformance tests, designers can quickly switch to debug mode and use tools like the powerful Visual Trigger capability on Tektronix oscilloscopes to isolate events of interest for deeper root-cause analysis with the DPOJET Jitter and Eye measurement toolkit.
Tektronix now offers the widest array of probing solutions covering all of the memory technologies including new interposers (DIMM, PoP and embedded) available for DDR4 and LPDDR3. The controlled impedance and trace length matching on these new interposers in combination with de-embedding filters for the oscilloscope ensure an accurate representation of the signal.
“When it comes to electrical verification, debug and conformance testing of memory technologies, the preferred tool is a high-performance mixed signal oscilloscope because of its speed, accuracy and versatility,” said Brian Reich, general manager, Performance Oscilloscopes, Tektronix. “Even as memory technologies are becoming increasingly faster and more complex, Tektronix remains committed to providing support to designers who need to quickly bring the latest standards to life.”
In addition to these important updates, Tektronix offers in-depth test support for memory including high channel count memory system validation with the TLA7000 Logic Analyzer, along with capture of both logic and analog signals with the MSO70000 Series. The Tektronix MSO70000, the industry’s highest performing mixed signal oscilloscope, is ideal for integration of command-address bus logic capture on digital channels for precise read/write burst detection.
Pricing and availability
The new DDR4 and LPDD3 interposers and updated DDRA software will be available in Q1 2013. Prices begin at $5,910 U.S. MSRP, DDRA support for DDR4, DDR3L & LPDDR3 will be a free upgrade to existing users. More information is available; including a product data sheet at: http://www.tek.com/datasheet/ddr-memory-bus-electrical-validation-and-analysis-software
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