Oscilloscope probes

Series: SMD • Subminiature (2.5 mm) • Compact (3.5 mm) • Miniature (5 mm) • 4 mm • 6-32

Tektronix made Oscilloscope probes in a number of standardized mechanical dimensions so that accessories like tips or hooks could be interchanged.

The standards include

• 6-32 probes (#6-32 UNC thread)
• Miniature modular probes (5 mm tip diameter)
• Compact modular probes (3.5 mm tip diameter)
• Subminiature modular probes (2.5 mm tip diameter)
• 4 mm probes
• SMD probes

From an electrical perspective, probes can be classified into passive and active probes, and further categorized into these categories.

Probes embody the fight against the adage "garbage in - garbage out" like nothing else associated with the use of oscilloscopes. For that purpose, Tektronix has been publishing "ABCs of Probes" for decades as a standard publication. It has been updated many times, adding newer models and deleting obsolete ones. Especially for Classic Tek lovers, the older versions (see list below, especially the 1990 version) are still valuable or even preferable. Unfortunately, some of the more recent versions contain typesetting errors, see the "Errors" in the list below.

See also

• Passive probe overview table
• Active probe overview table
• Dennis Tillman's Compilation of Probe Parts and Accessories
• Circuit Concepts: Oscilloscope Probe Circuits (1969)
• Tek Scopes and Vertical Amplifiers to Tek Probes Cross-Reference (1990)

Tektronix ABC's of Probes

Version	Year	Notes
60W-6053-2	1990	The "classic" version
60W-6053-7	July 1998
60W-6053-8	January 2004	Wrong image in Figure 1.11C
60W-6053-9	January 2005
60W-6053-11	December 2009
60W-6053-13	March 2013	There's a dummy caption to Figure 2.4 (the correct caption can be found in version 11) and Figure 2.5 has wrong picture
60W-6053-14	January 2016	In Figure 2.1, pictures of Level 1 and Level 2 are swapped, there's a dummy caption to Figure 2.4 (the correct caption can be found in version 11), and Figure 2.5 has wrong picture