What is your single most wish for test gear!

[German_EE]

I'll have a mixed domain oscilloscope please but make sure that it has the tracking generator option as well. I can then replace my scope, spectrum analyzer, logic analyzer and VNA with one box and have more space on the bench.

[VK3DRB]

A high end Agilent spectrum analyser with an S-parameters test set. With an RF anachoic chamber which doubles as a beer fridge when it is not in use.

[VK5RC]

Agilent sorry Keysight VNA 50GHz + and Cal set with cables and spare connectors , ……………….wake up Robert you're dreaming!

[AndyC_772]

I'd like a 'potential imaging device', please. It would be a camera which would produce an artificial image of a board in which the brightness and/or colour of each pixel would be determined by the voltage on whatever conductor is there, or some neutral background colour if the pixel corresponds to an insulator.

IC pins would, therefore, be clearly visible as rows of conducting points on a neutral background. The false colour palette would be chosen so as to make power rails and ground clearly identifiable, with a suitably intensity-graded response for analogue levels in between. A conventional visible light camera would be optically aligned and used to aid in orientation and recognition.

If the 'potential camera' were really good, it would have a high enough frame rate to be able to tell the difference between pins that are oscillating and those which are at a dc level. Maybe it could have 'virtual probes', in which some number of individual pixels are repeatedly scanned at a very fast rate, as a sort of non-contact oscilloscope. The rest of the image could be refreshed much less often, a few Hz would be fine.

How could such a device ever work? No idea. Maybe it could be done by putting the board into a vacuum chamber and scanning an e-beam across it? Not quite as handy as a thermal camera, but then again, early ones of those weren't exactly portable and easy to use either.

[T3sl4co1l]

How could such a device ever work? No idea. Maybe it could be done by putting the board into a vacuum chamber and scanning an e-beam across it? Not quite as handy as a thermal camera, but then again, early ones of those weren't exactly portable and easy to use either.

An SEM does precisely that, yes.  You do have to mind the weak beta flux (screws with ICs?) and leakage current though (even an extremely weak beam will probably roast CMOS, even bipolar).

Tim

[DenzilPenberthy]

I'll take a  Large Hadron Collider please... 

You won't like the electricity bill...

[Precipice]

How could such a device ever work? No idea. Maybe it could be done by putting the board into a vacuum chamber and scanning an e-beam across it? Not quite as handy as a thermal camera, but then again, early ones of those weren't exactly portable and easy to use either.

Yep, I've seen that done, and it was as cool as you'd think. Obviously no fast clock rates. De-capped chip, in an SEM.
You _might_ be able to do something with an array of pointy capacitive probes and alienesque amplifiers, but DC would be tricky.
There were also schemes for using voltage to do 'something optical' to lumps of crystal, to make non-conducting high frequency scope probes. Maybe sufficient cunning could scale that into an array?

My sensible bid is for a flying probe to spot where EMC is coming out of a product, and my non-sensible one is an undo button. (Possibly one I could attach to interns, so I could let them loose on real stuff without bowel-wrenching fear).

Oh yeah, high resolution cheap X-ray, and software to do the tomography, reassembly and reverse engineering of multilayer boards, as well as commenting on soldering quality.

[os40la]

I'll take a  Large Hadron Collider please... 

You won't like the electricity bill...

But all the worlds top Physicists knocking on my door asking to come in and play.... Priceless!!!

[nctnico]

Take a moment away from the busy day and dream a bit. If you had 1 test gear wish and you could make that wish come true today, what would you wish for?

My own shed/garage with a lift for a car so I can do more work on our cars.

[wiss]

I'd like a 'potential imaging device', please. It would be a camera which would produce an artificial image of a board in which the brightness and/or colour of each pixel would be determined by the voltage on whatever conductor is there, or some neutral background colour if the pixel corresponds to an insulator.

IC pins would, therefore, be clearly visible as rows of conducting points on a neutral background. The false colour palette would be chosen so as to make power rails and ground clearly identifiable, with a suitably intensity-graded response for analogue levels in between. A conventional visible light camera would be optically aligned and used to aid in orientation and recognition.

If the 'potential camera' were really good, it would have a high enough frame rate to be able to tell the difference between pins that are oscillating and those which are at a dc level. Maybe it could have 'virtual probes', in which some number of individual pixels are repeatedly scanned at a very fast rate, as a sort of non-contact oscilloscope. The rest of the image could be refreshed much less often, a few Hz would be fine.

How could such a device ever work? No idea. Maybe it could be done by putting the board into a vacuum chamber and scanning an e-beam across it? Not quite as handy as a thermal camera, but then again, early ones of those weren't exactly portable and easy to use either.

It can be done using an AFM.
Practical limitations today would be aspect-ratio of surface features (45 deg angles), and 100 um vertical and 1 by 1 mm horizontal image-size.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrostatic_force_microscope

[Galenbo]

I want a Dave.
I'm sure he gets better info and results out of my basic scope than I would get out of the most fancy one :-)