The Tektronix 567 is a sampling oscilloscope mainframe introduced in 1962.

It has a digital plug-in unit, the 6R1 or 6R1A, that can be used to measure waveform characteristics such as rise time. This digital unit provides a go/no-go output based on waveform characteristics. This feature makes the 567 particularly useful in production testing for tasks such as binning logic gates based on their speed.

The development of the 567 (and 6R1) was led by Sam McCutcheon.

The 567 came after the 661 and before the 568 and its associated 230 Digital Unit.

The 567 is a self-contained oscilloscope, but is also used as a component of S2000- and S3000-series measurement systems. In that capacity, it typically uses one of the programmable plug-ins, S-311, S-300, or S-301.

Key Specifications

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Operation

The 567 has three plug-in compartments. The left compartment holds a 3S-series sampling vertical unit such as a 3S2. The center compartment holds a 3T-series sampling sweep unit such as a 3T77. The right compartment holds the digital unit, either a 6R1 or a 6R1A. It is possible to operate a 567 without the digital unit but in that configuration it provides only the functionality that a 561 provides.

The 6R1 and 6R1A digital units have several different operating modes. These modes can be classified as time measurement or voltage measurement. One time measurement mode, for example, shows the time delay between the rising pulse edge on input A and the falling pulse edge on input B. This is useful for measuring the speed of a logic gate such as an inverter. One of the voltage measurement modes displays the difference between the input A voltage at on time and the input A voltage at some other time. This is useful for measuring the peak-to-peak amplitude of a signal.

Internals

The mechanisms used by the digital unit are a sample and hold circuit, a comparator, a counter, and a switched tap voltage divider. The digital unit takes its input from the vertical signal produced by the sampling unit. Therefore, it operates on a low-speed signal, somewhat similar to the intermediate frequency (IF) in a superheterodyne radio.

The user of the 567 positions two cursors along the X-axis. These cursors define two times and two voltages. The tapped voltage divider produces several voltages along the interval spanned by the two cursor voltages – 10%, 20%, 27%, 50%, 73%, 80%, and 90%. These voltages are used for making measurements such as the 10%-to-90% rise time. In this case, a counter is reset and started when the signal passes through the 10% voltage. The counter counts the number of cycles of a built-in crystal clock. When the signal reaches the 90% voltage, the counter is stopped and the count is displayed on the nixie tube digital numeric readout. The units and decimal place of the digital unit are controlled by switch contacts on the timing unit plug-in, which connect to the digital unit through a multi-pin connector in the 567.

The 567 does not have any post-deflection acceleration of the beam. The CRT circuit uses two 5642 high-voltage rectifier tubes, one (V822) to generate the CRT cathode voltage (−3.3 kV) and one (V832) to generate the CRT grid bias voltage. CRTs used were T5032 (earlier) and T5611 (later models).

A 567 can perform remotely controlled measurements by connecting a 262 programmer to the 6R1 or 6R1A that is in the 567.

There is an extender plug-in, the 067-0505-00, that allows a 6R1 or 6R1A to be operated outside the plug-in bay of the 567 for maintenance purposes.

Models

According to Stan Griffiths,

It looks like there were two different serial number runs of 567's.

Bench models:

  • 000101-000750 = 650 instruments
  • 002000-003280 = 1280 instruments
  • Total = 1930

Rackmount models:

  • 000101-000228 = 128 instruments
  • 002000-002240 = 240 instruments
  • Total = 368

Grand Total = approx. 2300

See Also

Pictures

Components

Some Parts Used in the 567

Part Part Number(s) Class Description Used in
0G3 154-0291-00 Gas Discharge Tube (Voltage regulator) 85 V voltage reference 132 506 547 560 561 561A 561S 564 565 567 661 TU-4 Z Keithley 610 Keithley 660A
12BH7 154-0046-00 Vacuum Tube (Dual Triode) dual triode 506 517A 561A 561S 564 567
5642 154-0051-00 154-0079-00 Vacuum Tube (Diode) directly-heated high-voltage rectifier 310 310A 316 317 360 453 502 502A 503 504 506 513 515 516 524 529 RM529 533 533A 535 536 543 543A 543B 545 545A 545B 547 551 555 556 560 561 561A 561S 564 567 570 575 581 581A 585 585A 647 647A
6080 154-0056-00 154-0315-00 Vacuum Tube (Dual Triode) dual power triode 132 160 316 317 516 535 535A RM35A 541 541A 535 536 545 545A 545B 546 547 549 565 567 575 581 581A 585 585A
6AU6 154-0022-00 157-0073-00 157-0059-00 154-0284-00 Vacuum Tube (Pentode) RF pentode 107 160 181 190 60 2A60 72 3A72 3C66 310 310A 316 317 360 502 502A 506 511 511A 512 513 516 517 517A 524 526 529 RM529 531 531A 535 536 545 545A 546 547 549 555 561 561A 561S 564 565 567 570 575 581 581A 585 585A 80 C CA Q
6BL8 154-0278-00 Vacuum Tube (Triode/Pentode) triode-pentode combo 67 2B67 3B1 3B1S 3B2 3B3 3B4 503 504 506 516 549 561 561A 561S 564 565 567 Telequipment D52 Telequipment D56 Telequipment S31 Telequipment S32 Telequipment S32A Telequipment S51 Telequipment S52
6CZ5 154-0167-00 Vacuum Tube (Pentode) power pentode 317 502 506 526 555 561 561A 561S 564 565 567
6DJ8 154-0187-00 154-0305-00 Vacuum Tube (Dual Triode) dual triode 067-506 111 132 161 310A 316 317 502 502A 503 504 506 515 516 519 526 529 RM529 533 535 536 543 544 545 545A 545B 546 547 549 555 556 561A 561S 564 565 567 581 581A 585 585A 661 1A4 1S1 60 2A60 63 2A63 67 2B67 3A1 3A1S 3A2 3A3 3A6 3A7 72 3A72 75 3A75 4S2 51 3B1 3B1S 3B2 3B3 3B4 3M1 3S76 3T77 3T77A 9A1 9A2 1121 80 81 82 86 B O W Z Telequipment D56 Telequipment S32A Telequipment D52 S-311 Telequipment TD51 Telequipment S52 Telequipment S51 Telequipment Type A TU-4
T5032 154-0319-00 154-0320-00 154-0321-00 154-0322-00 154-0355-00 154-0372-00 154-0373-00 154-0374-00 154-0375-00 154-0376-00 154-0377-00 154-0449-00 154-0454-00 154-0455-00 154-0456-00 CRT 5" rectangular-faceplate CRT 561 567
T5611 154-0531-00 154-0531-01 154-0531-02 154-0531-03 154-0613-00 154-0613-01 154-0613-02 154-0613-03 154-0614-00 154-0614-01 154-0614-02 154-0614-03 CRT ceramic CRT 561A 561B 567 568