Characterization of High Bandwidth Digitizers

Every year, the last products from most important builders of high bandwidth digitizers are tested in our laboratory which is specialized in the design and the characterization of fast links used in large laser facility. The purpose of this article is to describe the series of tests conducted during the characterization of such digitizers. More particularly, it takes an interest in the metrology of instruments with more than 5 GHz of bandwidth. It presents the different methods used and the kind of conclusion that we can give after such study. Such metrology campaign which usually takes one month of work, allows us to observe the smallest details and characteristics that usually builders don't give in their tables specifications. After the campaign, a copy of our technical report is written and sends to the builder. This report can be used by the technical team to ameliorate the points we noted.