Chapter

5
Cathode Ray Oscilloscope

5.1 Introduction:

The most versatile tool which can be used for the

development of electronic circuits and
systems is the Cathode Ray Oscilloscope (CRO). It allows the
whether they are voltage, current or power, to be displayed as a amplitude of electrical signals,
function of time.
The galvanometer and other mechanical devices have existed for a
long time. But their
major limitation is slow response. Oscilloscopes are capable of
these mechanical devices. giving a faster response to
In 1879, William Crookes denonstrated that the cathode
rays can be deflected in a
vacuum tube by using a magnet. The combination of focusing elements
narrow electron beam (called as cathode ray) aimed at fluorescent were used to produce a
all these elements formed a tube known as crookes tube. It target. The combination of
was later called as Cathode Ray
Tube (CRT) or an electron beam tube.
5.2 Block diagram of CRO:
Fig. 5.2.1 shows the block diagram of aCRO.
The main building blocks of a CRO are :
(i) The cathode ray tube (CRT)
(i) Vertical deflection system
(iii) Delay line
(iv) Horizontal deflection system
(v) Trigger circuit
(vi) Time base
(vii) Power supply.
 (AU) 5-2 Oscilloscopes
Measurements & Instrumentation

Volts/Div
Vertical
Delay lIne
ampliffer
Input
signal

+ToCRT CRT

HV supply
-
Electron
LV supply beam

H
To all circuits Electron Screen
gun

Trigger Time base Horizontal

circuit generator amplifier
Time/Div
Fig 5.2.1: Block diagram of CRO

5.2.1 Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) :

The catbode ray tube is the hcart of the CRO. The main parts of the CRT are
(a) Electron gun assembly
(b) Deflection plate assembly
(c) Fluorescent screen
(d) Glass tube
(e) Base.
Fig. 5.2.2 shows the internal structure of a CRT
Basic Principle of CRT:
It consists of an electron gun. The electron gun produces an electron beam. This beam is
narrow and is allowed to pass down the tube, and to fall on the screen. The screen is formed by
the flat end of glass tube which is coated with the fluorescent material. The point at which the
clectron beam strikes the screen, a spot is formed. The electron beamn passes through two pairs
of elcctrostatic deflection plates i.e. the horizontal and vertical deflecting plates. The voltages
which are applied to these plates deflect the beam. Horizontal deflecting plates move the spot
in horizontal direction and vertical deflecting plates move the spot on the
screen n verdcal
direction. These two movements i.e. vertical and horizontal are independent of each other and
thus the beam may be displayed anywhere on the screen. This is the basic principle of
CRT:
 Measurements &Instrumentation (AU) 5-3
Oscilloscopes
Electton gun
VerticalAquadag
Pre acoelerating Focusing defleotion coating
Pins anode anode i plates Electron beam
Heater
+ 400V

Visiable light
’Emission
Bright spot

Base Cathode Grid Accelerating Horizontal

anode
deflection
Phosphor
2kV to Leads Screen
10kV
Fig. 5.2.2: Internal structure of CRT
(a) Electron Gun Assembly:
Principle :
An electron gun assembly consists of a heater,
emits the electron beam. This electron beam is focusing anodes and cathode. Cathode
accelerated by using the accelerating anodes.
The velocity of such an electron beam is very high. When
the fluorescent screen, a spot is creaed on the such a high velocity beam strikes
fluorescent screen.
Heater and cathode :
Cathode is used to emit the beam of electrons. For this purpose,
the cathode is heated
using a heater. The cathode heating occurs indirectly. Heating
of cathode. increases the temperature
The cathode is cylindrical in nature.
At one end of the cathode a layer of barriumn and strontium oxide
is
causes electron emission at moderate temperature. Cathode requires a deposited. This
voltage
and a current of 600mA typically. For high eficiency it requires 6.3 V and 300 of6.3 V mA.
Control grid :
The beam of electrons emittcd from the cathode, pass through a small hole in the
"Control grid".
The control grid is cylindrical in nature. It is made from nickel material.
The intensity of the electron beam depends on the number of electrons that are emitted
by the cathode.
The grid is given a negative bias. By changing this negative bias, the number of
electrons that are passing through the hole in thc control grid. This indicates that the
intensity of the electron beam can be controlled by this grid.
 5-4
Oscilloscopes
Nwwsing ad Aeeeterating anodes :
As the eloctron bcam consists, of a number of clcctrons, it tends to diverge. This occurs
because the same charges on the clectron ropel cach othcr
An adyustable clectrostatic ficld is establishcd betwccn two cylindrical anodes, inorder to
compensate for the Npulsive forces which cause clcctron repulsion. The two cvlindrieot
anodes are called preaccelerating anode and accelerating anode.
The focusing anode is placcd betwecn the preaccclerating anode and accclerating
anode The focusing anode is uscd to compensatc for the repulsive forces i.e. it is used
to focus the clectron beam.
The focusing anode is cylindrical and has a hole in the centre.
The accelerating anodes i.e. preaccelerating anode and the accelerating anode are
connocted to a very high potential of about 2 KV to 20 KV. The focusing anode is
conncctod to a lowcr adjustable voltage of 500V.
The focusing anode is applied an adjustable voltage. By changing this voltage, focusing
of the clcctron beam is achieved. By changing the position of potentiometer, the voltage
can be changed.
(b) Deflection Plate Assembly:
When the electron beam is accelerated by the accelerating
through the deflection plate assembly. The beam can then be anodes it passes
positioned anywhere
on the screen.
The deflection plate assembly of the CRT consists of
plates. These plates are called as the vertical deflecting the two pairs of parallel
deflecting plate. plate and the horizontal
An external deflection voltage is applied
through an internal adjustable gain
amplifier to one of the plates of vertical and
plate is grounded. horizontal plates, while the other
The external voltage is applied through
the X- input. external terminals called as the Y-input or
A positive voltage applied to the X-input
deflect horizontally towards the right and terminal will cause the electron beam to
input terminal will cause the electron negative
beam
voltage when applied to the X
the left. to deflect horizontally towards
Similarly, if positive voltage is applied to the Y-input
clectron beam to deflect vertically upwards, while terminal, it will cause the
Y-input willcause the beam to deflect vertically negative voltage applied to the
The amount of vertical or horizontal
downwards.
applied voltage.
deflection is directly proportional to the
The horizontal deflection (X) produced will
be
deflecting voltage applied to the X-input say V,proportional
so
to the horizontal
the horizontal deflecting
plates are also referred to as X plates.
X c V,
 Measurements & lnstrumentation (AU) 5-5
Oscilloscopes
X K,V,
Where. K,:constant of proportionality.
The deflcction is usually measurcd in centimeter or as numbcr of divisions on the scale
inthe horizontal dircction.
X
K V,
K, is called as horizontal sensitivity of the oscilloscope. It is expressed in cm / volts or
division / volt.
Similarly the vertical deflection is proportional to the vertical deflecting voltage
applied to the Y-input Vy. Sothe vertical deflecting plates are also referred to as
Y-plates.
Y Vy
Y = Ky Vy
Where, Ky :constant of proportionality.
Y
.. Ky
Ky is called as vertical sensitivity of the oscilloscope. It is expressed in cm / voits or
division / volt.

Thus, by varying the voltage which is applied to the horizontal and vertical
deflecting plates, the vertical and horizontal motion of the electron beam is
obtained.
(c) Fluorescent Screen :
The front end of CRT acts as a fluorescent screen. This screen is about
100 mm x100 mm. An inner side of the scrcen is coated with phosphor. This
consists of pure crystals of phosphor.
A phosphor converts the electrical energy to light energy. When an electron beam
strikes the phosphor crystals, their energy level is increased. This causes the
phosphor crystals are excited and they emit light. This phenomenon is called as
fluorescence.
The light produced by the phosphor crystals on the screen does not immediately
disappear when the electron beam is switched off. When the electron beam is
switched of, the phosphor crystals will return to their initial state and they will
release a quantum of the light energy. The time period or which the trace is
visible is called as persistence or phosphorescence. The persistence can be a few
microseconds or tens or seconds or even minutes.
The other metals such as silver, manganese, copper and chromium arc added to
the phosphor material. These metals are called as activaters. They are used to
 Measurements &Instrumentation (AU) 56 Oscilloscopes

change the properties of phosphor such as luminous cfficency, spectral cmission

and persistence
Before the nd of decay time, a phosphor must be refreshed in order to obtain a
tlicaer froe displav
Short persistence phosphors are used for high speed applications. They require
froquent efieshes
Medium persistance phosphors are uscd for general purpose applications.
Long persistance phosphors are uscd for medical applications, radars, storage
oscilloscopes. They result in characters fading slowly. They are prone to
permancnt discolourations and loss of luminous efficiency at high beam
When an clectron beam strikes the screen, its kinctic energy is absorbed by the
phosphor matcrial. This creates heating. The hcat produced gives rise to
"phosphor burn" which is damaging and may cause phosphor destiuction. So the
phosphor material should have a high burn resistance.
A thin film of metal like aluminium is deposited on the nonviewing side of the
phosphor coating. This is called aluminizing. Aluminizing provides the following
advantages :
() lf the charges build up on phosphor then they will slow down the electrons as
well as they will limit the brightness. The aluminium layer prevents the
building up of charges on the phosphor.
() When the aluminium layer is present then the light emitted back into the tube
is reflected to the viewer. So it increases the brightness level.
(iüi) It acts as a heat sink to the phosphor. So it avoids the burning of phosphor
material,

The disadvantage of aluminizing is that, if aluminium layer is present then the

penetration of beam requires more energy. This reduces the CRT efficiency.
When the bombarding electrons strike to the screen, they emit secondary
electrons. Inorder to keep the screen in electrical cquilibrium state the secondary
electrons should be collected. The collection of secondary electrons is done by a
t
solution of graphite called as "aquadag". Aquadag is connected to the second
anode.
Measurements & Instrumentation (AU) 5-8 Oscilloscopes

(i1) It is havng high bun resistance

(iV) Its illumnaton level is high
() It providesa high writing specd
(d) Glass Tube :
evacuated glass tubc called the envelope.
The componcnts of a CRT arc cncloscd in an
frecly from onc cnd of the tube to
It allows the clectrons which arc cmittcd to move
another cnd.

(e) Base :
made to the
provided to the CRT through which the connections are
The base is
various parts.