Picotest Demo Boards

These demo boards enable you to check out new measurement methods with a well-known DUT before applying these measurements to your own design. Some of the demo boards are used in application notes or trainings, allowing you to reproduce the measurements at your place. For more detailed information on the Picotest demo boards, please check out the Picotest website.

VRTS1.5 Voltage Regulator Test Standard

The circuit is a discrete BJT (bipolar junction transistor) voltage regulator with a 7‐10 V input and a 3.3 V output. The BJT is controlled by a TL431 shunt regulator. C1 and R5 provide frequency compensation, R2 is the injection transformer terminating resistor and R3 and R4 are the output voltage sense divider.

Two different output capacitors can be selected using S1‐1 and S1‐2. One capacitor, an aluminum electrolytic capacitor provides excellent phase margin while the other results in approximately 40 degrees phase margin. A blue LED is powered by the output, providing a visual indication of power on and also a load of approximately 20 mA. An additional 25 mA of load current can be switched on or off using S1‐3.

For more information have a look at the VRTS 1.5 Manual and our Application Notes.

The VRTS3 demonstration board is a self-contained board designed to support a wide range of typical distributed system measurements. Input power is provided via a USB port using a typical USB-A to USB-B cable. No additional equipment is required for this board other than the measurement instruments.

The board contains the eight individual circuit sections identified below. These circuits are typical in most distributed systems providing an excellent testbed for demonstrating non-invasive, in-system measurement, optimization and troubleshooting techniques.

Circuit Sections:

  • 5 V USB input to 3.3 V / 2.8 MHz switching regulator
  • 2.5 V low noise voltage reference
  • 245 MHz Bandwidth unity gain opamp buffer
  • LD1086 voltage regulator 5 V USB input to 3.3 V output
  • 10 MHz and 125 MHz clocks
  • Short-Open-Load and 1 Ohm calibration ports
  • Parallel tantalum and ceramic capacitor on a small PCB plane
  • 50 Ω microstrips with precision aberrations - one with a ground void

For more information feel free to download the VRTS3 product Manual.

DEMONSTRATION CIRCUITS

The circuit is an integrated point of load synchronous buck regulator with a 5 V input and a 1.2 V / 2.5 A output. The device uses emulated current mode control, making it simple to create a flat impedance output. Easily accessible 0805 chip size components make it easy to customize or experiment with different component values.
This is a fully self‐contained demo board using USB input power and an onboard resistive load. The injection resistor R5 and additional test pins offer the possibility for a Bode plot measurement. SMA output connectors are also included to simplify connections for many measurements including the 2‐port output impedance measurement, step load and other common measurements.

(CAUTION: R9 and R10 GET HOT - DO NOT TOUCH)

For more information have a look at the LM20143B Manual.

 Currently we are not able to supply this product. Please contact Picotest for a quotation.

Key Features:

  • High Performance, High Quality, Passive Component and Decoupling Characterization Test Boards
  • Reference Test Board
  • Ceramic, Tantalum, Inductors
  • Touchstone Files SPICE and EM Models
  • S-parameter s2p Files
  • Board De-embed Files
  • ADS Optimization Workspaces
  • Allows Extraction of Capacitor Mounting Parasitics
  • Supports PDN and PI Simulation
  • Videos and Instructions on Testing and Modeling Decoupling
  • Supports 1-Port, 2-Port, and 2-Port Extended Measurements

 Currently we are not able to supply this product. Please contact Picotest for a quotation.

Key Features:

  • High Performance, High Quality, Passive Component Test Boards
  • Helps confirm measurement setups
  • Includes Capacitors, Inductors, Resistors, Calibration board, connectors
  • Supports 1-Port, 2-Port, and 2-Port Extended Measurements
  • Comes with Power Integrity Test Training Exercises for the Bode 100

 Currently we are not able to supply this product. Please contact Picotest for a quotation.

For more detailed information or for quotation requests, feel free to contact us via Email or via our contact form