The Keysight (Agilent) N4903A is a high-performance serial BERT integrating pattern generation and error detection across 150 Mb/s to 12.5 Gb/s. It delivers complete jitter tolerance testing with calibrated, integrated jitter injection exceeding 0.5 UI, enabling engineers to stress receivers under real-world signal conditions and validate compliance across industry-standard serial protocols. Built-in clock data recovery with tunable loop bandwidth (1 Gb/s to 12.5 Gb/s) and variable output voltages spanning LVDS, ECL, CML, and LVPECL make the N4903A ideal for characterizing high-speed digital interfaces in R&D and validation environments.
Technical Specifications
Data Rate & Pattern Generation
• Operating range: 150 Mb/s to 12.5 Gb/s
• Maximum clock rate: 7 GHz
• Pattern depth: 32 Mbit
• Maximum PRBS pattern: 31
Jitter Characteristics
• Jitter injection: Greater than 0.5 UI calibrated and integrated
• Jitter types: Periodic Jitter (PJ), Spreading Spectrum Jitter (SJ), Random Jitter (RJ), and Bounded Uncorrelated Jitter (BUJ)
• Intrinsic jitter: Typically 9 ps pp (internal clock)
• Transition times: Less than 20 ps
Signal Integrity
• Output voltage levels: ECL (−2 V), SCFL (0 V), LVPECL (1.3 V), LVDS (1.25 V), CML (0 V)
• Eye quality: Cleanest eyes with transition times < 20 ps and < 9 ps pp jitter
Clock Data Recovery
• Built-in CDR: Tunable and compliant loop bandwidth
• CDR operating range: 1 Gb/s to 12.5 Gb/s
– Key Features
• Automated jitter tolerance testing with compliant measurements
• Integrated, calibrated jitter composition for stressed-eye simulation
• Differential I/O support for industry-standard serial interfaces
• Options J10 and J20 for advanced jitter injection; Option C13 for 12.5 Gb/s capability; Option CTR for compliant tunable CDR
– Typical Applications
• High-speed serial interface characterization and validation
• Receiver jitter tolerance qualification
• Signal integrity analysis under worst-case jitter conditions
• Device compliance testing for demanding communication protocols
– Compatibility & Integration
Supported standards: PCI Express (PCIe), SATA, FB-DIMM, Fibre Channel, CEI, Gigabit Ethernet, XFP/XFI.
