Why Oscilloscope ENOB is an

Important Specification to Always

Consider
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 Why Oscilloscope ENOB is an Important Specification to Always Consider

Contents
Operational "How to" Guides............................................................................................................................. 4

Summary............................................................................................................................................................ 4

Description ......................................................................................................................................................... 4

See Also ............................................................................................................................................................. 7

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Why Oscilloscope ENOB is an Important Specification to Always Consider

Operational "How to" Guides

Summary
For scopes with bandwidths in the GHz range, another quality metric involves characterizing a scope’s ENOB.
This articles explaines what ENOB is and what you should know about it.
Description
Knowing the quality of the scope’s measurement system is paramount when you need to have
accurate measurement results. While banner specs like bandwidth, sample rate, and memory
depth provide a basis of comparison, these specifications alone don’t adequately describe
oscilloscope measurement quality.

Seasoned scope users will also compare a scope’s update rate, intrinsic jitter, and noise floor, all
of which enable better measurements. For scopes with bandwidths in the GHz range, another
quality metric involves characterizing a scope’s ENOB.

What is ENOB in the first place? It stands for Effective Number of Bits and is really the
measure of how well your oscilloscope accurately represents the captured waveform.

The higher the ENOB, the better the oscilloscope sees

the signal the way the components in your design see
the signal.

Bits of Resolution and Effective Number of Bits

The ADC is the most recognized component on the oscilloscope. It converts the analog data to
digital data. It drives the oscilloscope’s bits of resolution. It is defined by its sample rate and its

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 Why Oscilloscope ENOB is an Important Specification to Always Consider

signal to noise ratio. Typically, scopes have 8 bits of resolution, although recently oscilloscopes
have added 10 and 12 bit ADCs.

Effective number of bits (ENOB) is a measure of the dynamic performance primarily associated
with signal quantization levels of your oscilloscope.

While some oscilloscope vendors may give the ENOB

value of the oscilloscope’s ADC by itself, this figure has
no value. ENOB of the entire system is what is important.

While the ADC could have a great ENOB, poor oscilloscope front-end noise would dramatically
lower the ENOB of the entire measurement system.

Oscilloscope ENOB isn’t a specific number, but rather a series of curves. I am often asked, “what
is the ENOB of a specific Keysight oscilloscope?” Many vendors simply state a specific single
number for ENOB, for example, an ENOB of 5.5. The reality of the situation is this is just not
how effective number of bits work. They are frequency dependent. So, it may be 5.5 at one
specific frequency setting but is probably not 5.5 across the entire bandwidth of the oscilloscope.

ENOB was established by IEEE in 1993 as a

measurement of an oscilloscope’s signal integrity and
measurement accuracy.

It directly correlates to an oscilloscope’s signal to noise ratio. A higher ENOB will provide better
oscilloscope measurements for Jitter, eye height and width, and amplitude. ENOB is a metric,
and does not indicate what is causing signal integrity issues.

Effective number of bits is directly related to the ADC within an oscilloscope. In general, the bits
of resolution within the ADC determines the quantizing levels for your oscilloscope as shown in
Figure 1.

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Why Oscilloscope ENOB is an Important Specification to Always Consider

Increasing the number of ADC bits makes each quantizing step size smaller, so the maximum
error is minimized.

ENOB is measured as a fixed amplitude sine wave at varying frequencies. Each curve is
created at a specific vertical setting while frequency is varied. ENOB calculations are easy to
make.

1. First, input a perfect sine wave, capture it on a scope and measure the deviation from
the result vs the input. For
example, input a sine wave from a PSG at 1 GHz into the scope and measure the 1 GHz
sine wave.

2. Then fit it against a perfect 1 GHz sine wave.

The difference between the data record and best fit sine wave is assumed to be signal error.
ENOB considers noise, ADC non-linearities, interleaving errors, and other error sources.

What erodes the bits of resolution?

ENOB is primarily impacted by noise and distortion. Noise of course effects your signal-to-noise
ratio and distortion impacts the total harmonic distortion. If the base noise of an oscilloscope is
greater than the quantizing levels of the ADC, then there is no way for the scope to accurately
represent the digital signal level to the least significant bit.

ENOB values will always be lower than the oscilloscope’s ADC bits. In general, a higher ENOB
is better. However, a couple cautions need to accompany engineers who look exclusively at
ENOB to gauge signal integrity. ENOB doesn’t consider offset errors or phase distortion that the
scope may inject. So, it is also important to look at the base noise of an oscilloscope as well as

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 Why Oscilloscope ENOB is an Important Specification to Always Consider

its frequency response (amplitude flatness), phase linearity and gain accuracy to get a complete
picture of the accuracy of an oscilloscope.

In general, by choosing an oscilloscope with superior

ENOB, you are choosing a scope with better signal
integrity.

You not only impress your colleagues but you also get more accurate waveform shapes, more
accurate and repeatable measurements, wider eye diagrams and less jitter.

For more information on determining measurement quality, check out the Scopes
University S1E4 video, Determining Oscilloscope Measurement Quality .

See Also
Determining Oscilloscope Measurement Quality

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This information is subject to
change without notice.

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