Probe Compensation

Adjusting the tunable probe capacitor to get a flat frequency response is called probe compensation. Compensating passive probes increases the accuracy of your measurements by matching the capacitance of your probe to the capacitance of a particular oscilloscope input channel.

The following figure illustrates that an undercompensated probe attenuates higher frequency signals, whereas an overcompensated probe amplifies higher frequencies.

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Refer to the module or probe user documentation for information on how to compensate the probe.

Tip   For the most accurate measurements:
  • Compensate probes for each channel of the oscilloscope;
  • Use a compensated probe only with the channel you used to compensate it; and
  • Compensate your probes frequently.