Oscilloscope Glossary

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Term Definition
D-PHY

MIPI Physical Layer Specification - this is the first specification developed by MIPI primarily to support camera and display applications. More information see www.mipi.org.

D/A

Digital-to-Analog-converter. Converts a digital information into an analog signal.

DAC

Digital-to-Analog-Converter.

Synonyms - D/A
dB

Decibel - Logarithmic unit (to base 10) to express the ratio of two values of a signal.

dBc

Decibels relative to the carrier.

DC

direct current = unidirectional flow of electric charge.

DDR

Double Data Rate - used e.g. in memory chips

de-embedding

Mathematical process to remove the effects of structures needed for the measurement (e.g. fixture) from the measured data.

dead time

After each signal acquisition the oscilloscope needs some time for processing and analysis of the captured data. After that time the scope can again start to aquire new data. The time between these acquisitions is called blind time or dead time.

Synonyms - blind time
Decibel

Decibel (dB) - Logarithmic (to base 10) measure to express the ratio of two signal levels.

distortion

Normally unwanted alteration of a signal or waveform e.g. deformation of amplitude, phase, frequency response or adding harmonics.

drift

Unwanted change of an output over a period of time.

DSO

Digital Storage Oscilloscope

DUT

Device unter Test

dynamic range

Ratio of the maximum and minimum signal level that can be measured (typically expressed in dB). The dynamic range is realated to the resolution of the analog-digital-converter e.g.  8 bit resolution equals 256 steps.