Data Sheet AD5560
Rev. E | Page 37 of 66
POLES AND ZEROS IN A TYPICAL SYSTEM
Typical closed loop systems have one dominant pole in the
feedback path, providing −20 dB/decade gain roll off and 90°
of phase shift so that the gain decreases to 0 dB where there
is a conservative 90° of phase margin.
The AD5560 has compensation options to help cope with the
various load conditions that a DPS is presented with.
MINIMIZING THE NUMBER OF EXTERNAL
COMPENSATION COMPONENTS
Note that, depending on the range of load conditions, not all
external capacitors are required.
CFx Pins
There are five external CFx pins. All five pins are used
in the autocompensation mode to choose a suitable capacitor,
depending on the load being driven. To reduce component
count, it is possible to connect just one capacitor, for instance,
CF2 to the CF2, CF1, and CF0 pins. Therefore, when any of the
smallest three external capacitors are selected, the same physical
capacitor is used because it is connected to all three pins. A
disadvantage here is that the larger CF2 capacitor should be
bigger than optimal and may increase settling time of the
whole circuit (particularly the measure current).
CCx Pins
To make the AD5560 stable with any unknown capacitor
from 0 pF to 160 μF, all four CCx capacitors are required.
However, if the range of load is from 0 pF to 20 µF, then
CC3 can be omitted. Similarly, if the load range is from 0 pF to
2.2 µF, then CC2 and CC3 can be omitted. Only CC0 is required
in autocompensation mode.
Note that safe mode, which makes the device stable in any
load from 0 pF to 160 μF, simply switches in all of the four
CCx capacitors. Stability into 160 μF is assured only if all four
capacitors are present; otherwise, the maximum capacitor for
stability is reduced to 20 μF, 2.2 μF, or 220 nF, depending on
how many capacitors are missing.
EXTRA POLES AND ZEROS IN THE AD5560
The Effect of CCx
CC0 is switched on at all times. CC3, CC2, and CC1 can be con-
nected in addition to CC0 to slow down the force amplifier loop.
In the ±500 mA range looking into a small load capacitor, with
only CC0 connected, the ac gain vs. phase response results in
~90° of phase margin and a unity gain bandwidth (UGB) of
~400 kHz.
The Effect of CFx
The output of the AD5560 passes through a sense resistor to
the DUT. Coupled with the load capacitor, this sense resistor
can act as a low-pass filter that adds phase shift and decreases
phase margin (particularly in the low current ranges where the
sense resistors are large).
Placing a capacitor in parallel with this sense resistor provides
an ac feedforward path to the DUT. Therefore, at high frequen-
cies, the DUT is driven through the CFx capacitor rather than
through the sense resistor.
Note that each CFx output has an output impedance of about
3 Ω. This is very small compared to the sense resistors of the
low current ranges but not so for the highest current ranges.
Therefore, the CFx capacitors are most effective in the low current
ranges but are of lesser benefit in higher current ranges.
As shown in the force amplifier diagram (see Figure 57), there
is a pole at 1/( RSENSE × [CFx + CR]) and a zero at 1/[ RSENSE × CFx].
Therefore, the output impedance of each CFx output, at around
1 Ω, limits the improvement available by using the CFx capacitors.
For a large load capacitance, there is still a pole at −1/[1 Ω × CR]
above which the phase improvement is lost. If there is also a
cable resistance to the DUT, or if CFx has significant ESR, this
should be added to the 1 Ω to calculate the pole frequency.
If CFx is chosen to be bigger than the load capacitance, it can
dominate the settling time and slow down the settling of the
whole circuit. Also, it directly affects the time taken to measure
a current (RSENSE × CFx).
The Effect of RZ
When the load capacitance is known, RZ can be used to optim-
ize the response of the AD5560. Because the CFx buffers have
some output impedance of about 1 Ω, there is likely to be some
additional resistance to the DUT. There can still be an output
pole associated with this resistance and the load capacitance,
CR, 1/[R0 × CR] (where R0 = the series/parallel combination of
the sense resistor, the CFx output impedance, the CFx capacitor
ESR, and the cable to DUT). This is particularly significant for
larger load capacitances in any current range. By programming
a zero into the loop response by setting RZ (in series with CC0),
it is possible to cancel this pole. Above the frequency 1/[CC0 ×
RZ], the series resistance and capacitance begin to look resistive
rather than capacitive, and the 90° phase shift and 20 dB/decade
contributed by CC0 no longer apply. Note that, to cancel the
load pole with the RZ zero, the load pole must be known to
exist. Adding a zero to cancel a pole that does not exist causes
an oscillation (perhaps the expected load capacitor is not
present). Also, it is recommended to avoid creating a zero
frequency lower than the pole frequency; instead, allow the zero
frequency to be 2× or 3× higher than the calculated pole
frequency.
The Effect of RP
RP can be used to ensure circuit stability when a poor load
capacitor with significant ESR is present. Above the frequency,
1/[CR × RC], the DUT begins to look resistive. The ESR of the
DUT capacitor, RC, contributes a zero at this frequency. The
load capacitor, CR, is counted on to stabilize the system when
the user has cancelled the load pole with the RZ zero. Just as the
absence of CR under these circumstances can cause oscillations,
the presence of ESR RC while nonzero RZ is used can cause