AN4507

Application note
PWM resolution enhancement through a dithering technique for
STM32 advanced-configuration, general-purpose and lite timers

Introduction
Nowadays power-switching electronics exhibit remarkable performance enhancements, and
switching frequencies are constantly increasing to meet the requirements of modern power-
conversion systems. This presents increasing challenges in the field of control techniques.
Digitally-controlled Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) generators make a trade-off between
switching frequency and duty-cycle fine tuning. Achieving both high resolution and high
switching frequency implies that the control circuitries operate at high frequencies.
This application note presents a dithering technique that enhances the PWM resolution
while keeping the same switching frequency and operating frequency for the control
circuitry.
The PWM dithering technique demonstration covered in this application note uses one of
the STM32 16-bit general purpose timers. The implementation and the associated
X-CUBE-PWM-DITHR software expansion for STM32Cube both target the NUCLEO-
F302R8 Nucleo board, but can easily be tailored to any of the STM32 MCUs, regardless of
the hardware development environment.

January 2017 DocID026443 Rev 2 1/22

www.st.com 1
Contents AN4507

Contents

1 PWM dithering technique concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

1.1 Trade-off between switching frequency and PWM resolution . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2 PWM dithering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.2 Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.3 N-added-resolution-bit PWM dithering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2 PWM dithering technique implementation for STM32 timers . . . . . . . . 9

2.1 STM32 timers features for PWM dithering implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1.1 STM32 timer time-base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1.2 STM32 timer channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1.3 Channel register preload feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.1.4 Timer DMA burst feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.2 System-level features and peripherals used in PWM
dithering implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
2.2.1 Timer update-event-triggered DMA transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2.2 DMA half-transfer interrupt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.3 PWM dithering implementation using STM32 MCUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

3 Demonstration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.1 Demonstration hardware environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.2 Demonstration firmware architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.2.1 Utilization of the microcontroller hardware resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.2.2 Demonstration firmware description through flowcharts . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.2.3 Firmware Footprint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.3 Experimental results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.3.1 Dithering effect on PWM resolution enhancement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.3.2 Low-pass filter dimensioning considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

4 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

5 Revision history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

2/22 DocID026443 Rev 2

AN4507 List of tables

List of tables

Table 1. PWM frequency versus PWM Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Table 2. Possible patterns for 1-bit PWM dithering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Table 3. PWM dithering pattern for generating 1/2 LSB dither effect (highest ripple magnitude). . . . 8
Table 4. PWM dithering pattern for generating 1/2 LSB dither effect
(lowest ripple magnitude) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Table 5. PWM dithering patterns, 3-added-resolution-bit PWM
(lowest output ripple) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Table 6. Firmware Footprint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Table 7. Document revision history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

DocID026443 Rev 2 3/22

3
List of figures AN4507

List of figures

Figure 1. Duty-cycle adjustment for PWM dithering technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Figure 2. STM32 timers PWM modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Figure 3. PWM dithering technique implementation bloc diagram. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Figure 4. STM32F3 Nucleo board setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Figure 5. Application's main function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Figure 6. Peripherals initialization flowchart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Figure 7. DMA interrupt handler flowchart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Figure 8. Dithering effect applied on the rising slope of the triangular waveform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Figure 9. Low-pass filter cut-off frequency effect on the dithering technique efficiency. . . . . . . . . . . 19

4/22 DocID026443 Rev 2

AN4507 PWM dithering technique concept

1 PWM dithering technique concept

1.1 Trade-off between switching frequency and PWM resolution

There is a tight relationship between the switching frequency which is equivalent to the
PWM frequency and the PWM resolution. Increasing the PWM resolution implies to
decrease the PWM frequency while maintaining a constant timer clock frequency. For a
general purpose STM32 timer, the minimal clock frequency required to clock the timer to
achieve a given PWM frequency and resolution is given by the formula below:

PWM resolution
Timer clock = PWM frequency × 2

Table 1 provides some examples based on the above formula.

Table 1. PWM frequency versus PWM Resolution

STM32 16-bit timer PWM resolution PWM frequency

72 MHz 16 bit ~1.1 kHz

72 MHz 14 bit ~4.4 kHz
72 MHz 12 bit ~17.5 kHz
72 MHz 10 bit ~70 kHz
72 MHz 8 bit ~281 kHz
72 MHz 6 bit ~1.125 MHz
72 MHz 4 bit ~4.5 MHz

1.2 PWM dithering

1.2.1 Introduction
To overcome the trade-off presented above, the PWM dithering technique proposes to
enhance the PWM resolution while maintaining a constant PWM frequency and without any
need to increase the timer clock frequency.
Theoretically, any desired number of added resolution bits is possible. Practically, the added
resolution bits are limited to a few ones, in particular due to the firmware footprint
exponential increase (See Section 3.2.3: Firmware Footprint).

1.2.2 Concept
The PWM dithering is done by making the PWM duty-cycle not constant any more. The idea
is to adjust the duty-cycle by one LSB with a repetitive pattern over a given number of
consecutive PWM periods. An external low-pass filter is used to cut the extra switching

DocID026443 Rev 2 5/22

21
PWM dithering technique concept AN4507

components and the result consists in an added DC offset with a resolution less than one
duty cycle LSB. The duty-cycle adjustment can be made following two possible approaches.
• The first approach consists in subtracting one LSB from the periods where a duty-cycle
adjustment should be made. In this case the DC offset is going to be negative.
• The other way is by adding one LSB to the periods where a duty-cycle adjustment
should be made. In this case the DC offset is going to be positive.
The added DC offset is proportional to the ratio between the number of PWM periods where
duty-cycle adjustment is made, divided by the number of consecutive PWM periods making
one PWM dithering pattern. Whatever the duty-cycle adjustment pattern, the obtained ratio
is always a positive sub-one fractional value. With this dithering technique, external devices
can be controlled with a resolution higher than the original PWM resolution.
The resulting PWM resolution is given by the below formula:

PWM Effective_Resolution = PWM Resolution + PWM Dither_Resolution

PWM Resolution = Timer clock frequency ⁄ PWM frequency

The PWMDither_Resolution is given by the below formula

PWM Dither_Resolution
N PWM_Adjustment_Periods = 2

where NPWM_Adjustment_Periods is the number of PWM periods required to constitute one

duty-cycle adjustment pattern (also called, PWM dithering pattern).
The required number of periods for a complete duty-cycle adjustment pattern is a power-of-
2 of the number of resolution bits, added with the dithering technique.
Just for simplicity sake, the below example is given for 1-bit enhanced PWM resolution. The
concept remains the same for larger numbers of added resolution bits.
Within this example we want to add only one extra bit of resolution using the dithering
technique. The duty-cycle adjustment pattern will occupy 2 PWM periods. A sequence of
PWM periods is presented in Figure 1 below. The PWM dithering technique consists in
adjusting the duty-cycle of two consecutive PWM periods. The pattern could be the same for
the next two PWM periods to maintain the same output value or it can be changed to a new
one.

6/22 DocID026443 Rev 2

AN4507 PWM dithering technique concept

Figure 1. Duty-cycle adjustment for PWM dithering technique

'& '& '& '&

7 /6%GXW\F\FOHDGMXVWPHQW
2QH3:0GLWKHULQJSDWWHUQ
PDGHRIFRQVHFXWLYH3:0SHULRGV
069

For 1-added-resolution-bit PWM dithering, four patterns are possible. These patterns are
listed in Table 2 below.

Table 2. Possible patterns for 1-bit PWM dithering

DC1 DC2 (DC1 + DC2)/2

0 LSB 0 LSB 0 LSB(1)

0 LSB 1 LSB ½ LSB(2)
1 LSB 0 LSB ½ LSB(2)
1 LSB 1 LSB 1 LSB(1)
1. Not of interest because achievable by hardware.
2. PWM dithering effect: for 1-bit PWM dithering, the fine tuning step is ½ LSB.

The first and the last patterns give a fine tuning of one full LSB but this is already achievable
by hardware. The second and the third patterns are the ones targeted by the PWM dithering
technique. These patterns allow to control the PWM resolution by a smaller step (½ LSB).
For 1-added-resolution-bit PWM dithering, the two dithering-effect patterns are similar. Any
one of them can be used for achieving the ½ LSB fine-tuning step.

1.2.3 N-added-resolution-bit PWM dithering

For larger numbers of added resolution bits, the same concept as described above remains
applicable. For N-added-resolution-bit PWM dithering, 2N patterns are possible. As it is the
case for the 1-added-resolution-bit PWM dithering, the first and the last patterns (those
which have a fine tuning step of 1 LSB) are not of interest. All the remaining patterns
present the dithering effect. When choosing which pattern to use, two considerations must
be taken into account:
• The first one, which is intuitive, is the desired dither value.
• The second one is to choose the pattern that generates as low as possible ripple while
keeping the required dither effect.
Let’s consider a 3-added-resolution-bit PWM dithering example. In this case, each PWM
dithering pattern is composed of 23 = 8 PWM periods and the fine tuning step is 1/8 LSB.
Let’s assume the desired average dither effect should be 1/2 LSB. Table 3 and Table 4
provide such pattern examples producing a ½ LSB fine-tuning. The patterns in Table 3 are
characterized by a high ripple magnitude whereas the pattern in Table 4 is showing a
minimal output ripple.

DocID026443 Rev 2 7/22

21
PWM dithering technique concept AN4507

Table 3. PWM dithering pattern for generating 1/2 LSB dither effect (highest ripple magnitude)
Average
DC1 DC2 DC3 DC4 DC5 DC6 DC7 DC8
value

4/8 = ½ LSB 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
4/8 = ½ LSB 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1

Table 4. PWM dithering pattern for generating 1/2 LSB dither effect
(lowest ripple magnitude)
Average
DC1 DC2 DC3 DC4 DC5 DC6 DC7 DC8
value

4/8 = ½ LSB 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0

Carefully selecting the PWM dithering pattern helps reducing the output ripple induced by
the PWM dithering technique. Nevertheless, a slight degradation of the output ripple margin
is unavoidable. Table 5 lists the PWM dithering patterns that produce the lowest output
ripple for each average value achievable with a 3-added-resolution-bit PWM dithering
implementation.

Table 5. PWM dithering patterns, 3-added-resolution-bit PWM

(lowest output ripple)
Average
DC1 DC2 DC3 DC4 DC5 DC6 DC7 DC8 Ripple
value

0 LSB 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 None
1/8 LSB 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Highest
2/8 LSB
3/8 LSB
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
1
↓
4/8 LSB 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 Lowest
5/8 LSB
6/8 LSB
0
0
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
↑
7/8 LSB 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Highest
1 LSB 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 None

8/22 DocID026443 Rev 2

AN4507 PWM dithering technique implementation for STM32 timers

2 PWM dithering technique implementation for STM32

timers

2.1 STM32 timers features for PWM dithering implementation

The PWM dithering technique can be applied to any of the STM32 advanced configuration,
general purpose and lite timers, regardless of their resolution: 16-bit or 32-bit timers.
The STM32 timers present a set of common features that make the dithering technique
implementation relatively easy and with a small impact on the overall system performance.
Below is a brief presentation of the STM32 timer features that are needed for the dithering
technique implementation. For further details on these features or any other STM32 timer
features, refer to the corresponding microcontroller reference manual.

2.1.1 STM32 timer time-base

The time-base unit is a basic component of the STM32 timers. It is included in every STM32
timer. The time-base unit contains the counter register, the auto-reload register and several
other components. Depending on the configured counting direction, the counter is either
incrementing from zero to the auto-reload register value or is decrementing from the auto-
reload register value to zero. The time-base unit is used to define the timer counting
periodicity.

2.1.2 STM32 timer channels

The STM32 timers implement different number of channels ranging from 0 to 6. The number
of channels depends on the type of timer and on the product into which it has been
embedded. The timers with zero channel (only a time-base unit) are called basic timers.
These timers are not concerned by this application note because at least one channel (one
timer output) is required by the PWM dithering technique.
The STM32 timer channels can be used as input channels or as output channels. When
configured in output mode, STM32 channels can be configured to output PWM signals. The
PWM output configuration is the one used by the dithering technique.
When configured in PWM mode, the duty-cycle of the output waveform is controlled by the
counter register value and the channel register value. The timer is continuously carrying on
a comparison between the counter value and the timer channel value. Depending on the
comparison result and the configured PWM mode (PWM1 or PWM2 mode), the channel
output is either high or low. The resulting signal, as shown in Figure 2, is a PWM signal with
a period duration controlled by the auto-reload register value and a duty-cycle controlled by
the channel register value.

DocID026443 Rev 2 9/22

21
PWM dithering technique implementation for STM32 timers AN4507

Figure 2. STM32 timers PWM modes

3:0

3:0

7,0B$55

7,0B&&5;

&RXQWHU

&RXQWHU
 W
069

2.1.3 Channel register preload feature

As the channel output level depends on the continuous comparison between the counter
register value and the timer channel register value, any change to the channel register may
induce immediate channel output level change. As a consequence, writing directly to the
channel register in the middle of a PWM period may generate spurious waveforms. To
overcome this problem, the STM32 timer channels embed two channel registers: an active
channel register and a shadow channel register. These two channel registers are controlled
by the preload feature. When preload feature is disabled, any write operation is made
directly into the active channel register used for carrying the comparison operation. As
explained above, this configuration may generate spurious waveforms if the write access is
not well synchronized with the counter value (this is practically difficult to achieve). When
preload is activated, any write access is made to the shadow channel register while the
channel active register remains unchanged (no perturbation on the ongoing PWM period).
As soon as the timer counter reaches its counting boundary an update event is generated
by the timer and the shadow register content is transferred into the active register which will
be used during the next PWM period for carrying the comparison operation and define the
duty-cycle ratio.
In summary, the preload feature guaranties that no spurious waveforms are generated while
accessing the channel register. The channel register write access can be performed
anytime within a PWM period.
For further details regarding the preload feature, refer to the corresponding microcontroller
reference manual.

2.1.4 Timer DMA burst feature

In order to apply dithering effect on several timer outputs simultaneously (it is of high interest
when designing multi-phase power converters), it is required to update several channel
registers using the same DMA channel (on some products this is also called stream). The
DMA burst feature built into the STM32 timers makes possible to update the content of
several timer registers following a single event generated by the timer. In particular, this
allow to update several channel registers simultaneously, following the timer update event.

10/22 DocID026443 Rev 2

AN4507 PWM dithering technique implementation for STM32 timers

2.2 System-level features and peripherals used in PWM

dithering implementation
PWM dithering technique consists in refreshing the duty-cycle value for each PWM period.
In other terms, this technique consists in refreshing the channel register value on each
PWM period.
To offload the CPU, the STM32 DMA peripheral can be used to perform the timer channel
register refresh thanks to the features described in Section 2.2.1 and Section 2.2.2.

2.2.1 Timer update-event-triggered DMA transfer

The STM32 timers feature the capability to trigger DMA transfers following the occurrence
of particular timer events. For PWM dithering implementation, the timer update event can be
used to start a DMA transfer. The timer update event is a periodic event that occurs each
time the timer counter reaches its counting boundary. This event is used to trigger the
channel register refresh at the start of each new PWM period.

2.2.2 DMA half-transfer interrupt

As explained above, in order to generate the PWM dithering effect, the duty-cycle should be
updated at each PWM period for a given range of periods and following a given pattern. The
pattern is a series of successive values that will be transferred one by one into the channel
register at each new PWM period. For a given dither value, a dedicated pattern should be
calculated. As a consequence, when a pattern is being transferred, the next one should be
calculated. One way to do this is by splitting the pattern table into two halves. When DMA is
transferring values from one part of the table, the firmware can calculate the other part of the
table and prepare the pattern for the next PWM period series (the duty-cycle adjustment
pattern) corresponding to the desired dither value.
DMA half-transfer interrupt and transfer-complete interrupt can be used for implementing
this mechanism. When the half-transfer interrupt occurs this means that the DMA has
completed the transfer of the values from the first half of the table and is going to transfer
values corresponding to the next series of PWM periods from the second half of the table.
When transfer-complete interrupt occurs this means that DMA has completed the transfer of
values from the second part of the table and is going to switch back to the first half of the
table for transferring pattern values for the next series of PWM periods.

2.3 PWM dithering implementation using STM32 MCUs

This section explains how to assemble the above described features in one application in
order to enhance the resolution of one timer channel configured in PWM mode.
First of all, the programmer should reserve the needed space in the SRAM for the table of
patterns. The size of the table of patterns can be calculated using the below formula:

N
Table_size = 2 × 2

where N is the PWM dithering effect added resolution bits.

DocID026443 Rev 2 11/22

21
PWM dithering technique implementation for STM32 timers AN4507

When using a 16-bit timer, the table of patterns should be a table of half-words, otherwise if
using a 32-bit timer, the table of patterns should be a table of words.
The firmware routines that initialize the peripherals needed for PWM dithering should
respect the following recommendations.
• The DMA should be configured to transfer values from the table of patterns located in
SRAM memory into the timer channel register. The DMA source address increment
should be configured in circular mode in order to roll over when it reaches the end of
the table of patterns and points again on the table top. The DMA destination address
should be fixed. The DMA half-transfer interrupt and transfer complete interrupt should
be enabled for the relevant channel (on some products it is called stream). The
firmware example provided with this application note presents a proposal on how to
configure the DMA for implementing the PWM dithering technique. For further details
about DMA modes and configurations, refer to the microcontroller corresponding
reference manual.
• The timer should have its time-base initialized with appropriate values in order to
generate the required PWM frequency. The “preload” function should be activated for
the timer channel register. The timer should be configured to send DMA requests
following each update event.
• The dithering patterns should be calculated based on the desired duty-cycle. If the
timer possible hardware resolution for duty-cycle is x-bit length and the desired dither-
effect added resolution is y-bit length, the duty-cycle passed to the dithering routines
should be (x+y)-bit length. The DMA half-transfer and transfer-complete interrupts can
be used as triggers for dithering patterns calculation routines. These DMA interrupts
are useful to know which part of the table of patterns is used by DMA and which one is
free and can be updated by the dithering patterns generation routines. The
demonstration firmware provided with this application note shows an example of
possible implementation of dithering patterns generation routines. This example, while
being functional, might be further enhanced in order to improve performance (e.g.
reduce footprint, reduce CPU load, etc.). Figure 3 illustrates how to assemble the
STM32 MCU features together in order to implement the required timer PWM output
resolution.

12/22 DocID026443 Rev 2

AN4507 PWM dithering technique implementation for STM32 timers

Figure 3. PWM dithering technique implementation bloc diagram

'LWKHULQJDGGHG
(IIHFWLYHUHVROXWLRQELWV
UHVROXWLRQELWV
65$0
[ [ [ [ [ [ \ \ \
06% /6%
'LWKHUWDEOH±ILUVWSDUW
 [ [ [ [ [
 [ [ [ [ [
 7,0[
 [ [ [ [ [
'LWKHULQJ
URXWLQHV &KDQQHODFWLYHUHJLVWHU
'LWKHUWDEOH±VHFRQGSDUW
&KDQQHOSUHORDGUHJLVWHU
 [ [ [ [ [
 [ [ [ [ [

 [ [ [ [ [

'0$
'RXEOHEXIIHUPRGHWKURXJK+7LQWHUUXSW

³[´RU³[/6%´
069

DocID026443 Rev 2 13/22

21
Demonstration AN4507

3 Demonstration

This section details a 3-added-resolution-bit PWM dithering implementation. It provides

insights about the firmware architecture used for the implementation. The demonstration
example is given for 3 added resolution bits, but can be easily extended for different number
of added resolution bits. The provided demonstration firmware is targeting the STM32F3
series of products. It can be easily migrated to any other product in the STM32
microcontrollers family.
The demonstration firmware generates a triangular waveform. The idea is to demonstrate
the PWM dithering effect on the staircase rising slope of the generated waveform without
affecting the falling slope. The lower the PWM resolution, the higher the rising staircase
steps. Applying the dithering technique on the PWM signal used to generate the triangular
waveform adds a certain number of extra resolution bits. If properly implemented, the PWM
dithering technique should make the output steps smaller (dithering effect magnitude
depends on the number of added resolution bits). The dithering effect should be observed at
the output of the external low pass filter (see Section 3.3.2: Low-pass filter dimensioning
considerations), rather than directly at the output of the timer.

3.1 Demonstration hardware environment

The demonstration firmware provided with this application note is intended to be run on the
NUCLEO-F302R8 Nucleo board. The user manual for this board and all related
documentation are available on www.st.com. Before the board is used for the
demonstration, it needs to be slightly reworked to mount the low-pass filter on the timer
output used for the demonstration.

14/22 DocID026443 Rev 2

AN4507 Demonstration

Figure 4. STM32F3 Nucleo board setup

&

5
/RZSDVV
ILOWHU¶VRXWSXW

06Y9

The low-pass filter cut-off frequency calculation is based on several parameters including
the PWM period. For this demonstration example the cut-off frequency is around 160 kHz
(R = 1 kOhm, C = 1 nF). Our PWM switching frequency is around 1.125 MHz which is
definitely in the rejected bandwidth of the low-pass filter. The resistor and the capacitor
components should be mounted as close as possible to the timer output pin on the Nucleo
board. If the low-pass filter is placed on a daughter board, the connections between the
daughter board and the Nucleo board should be as short as possible in order to avoid
distortion of the filter parameters and the resulting waveform (e.g. switching noise may
become more important due to the inductance of the connection wires).

3.2 Demonstration firmware architecture

3.2.1 Utilization of the microcontroller hardware resources

This demonstration firmware example is developed for the STM32F302R8T6
microcontroller present on the NUCLEO-F302R8 board. The hardware resources used for
the PWM dithering implementation are listed below:
• DMA1 channel 5 is used for timer channel register refresh
• Timer1 channel1 is used for the PWM resolution enhancement through dithering
technique
• Timer1 channel1 output is configured to be outputted on the pin PA.09 that belongs to
the GPIO port A.

DocID026443 Rev 2 15/22

21
Demonstration AN4507

3.2.2 Demonstration firmware description through flowcharts

The CPU completes the system clock configuration and branches to the application main
routine. The application main function is described by the flowchart in Figure 5:

Figure 5. Application's main function

ŝƚŚĞƌŝŶŐƉĂƚƚĞƌŶƐĐĂůĐƵůĂƚŝŽŶĨŽƌ
ƚŚĞĨŝƌƐƚƉĂƌƚŽĨƚŚĞƚĂďůĞ

WĞƌŝƉŚĞƌĂůƐŝŶŝƚŝĂůŝnjĂƚŝŽŶ

/ĚůĞƐƚĂƚĞ

069

16/22 DocID026443 Rev 2

AN4507 Demonstration

Before initializing the timer and DMA peripherals and start refreshing the timer channel
register, the first half of the table of patterns should be initialized. The following table
updates are handled by the DMA interrupt handler. The peripherals initialization function is
described in the flowchart Figure 6.

Figure 6. Peripherals initialization flowchart

ZĐŽŶĨŝŐƵƌĂƚŝŽŶ;ĞŶĂďůĞƐDϭ͕'W/KĂŶĚd/DϭĐůŽĐŬƐͿ

'W/KƉŽƌƚĐŽŶĨŝŐƵƌĂƚŝŽŶ;W͘ϬϵŝƐƵƐĞĚĂƐd/DϭĐŚĂŶŶĞůϭŽƵƚƉƵƚͿ

DĐŽŶĨŝŐƵƌĂƚŝŽŶнEs/ĐŽŶĨŝŐƵƌĂƚŝŽŶ

d/DϭĐŽŶĨŝŐƵƌĂƚŝŽŶ

069

After completing the peripherals initialization, the CPU goes into an infinite loop. Dithering
patterns calculation task is handled by the DMA interrupt service routine (ISR) following
each DMA half-transfer or transfer-complete interrupt. The flowchart in Figure 7 describes
the DMA interrupt handler function (ISR).

Figure 7. DMA interrupt handler flowchart

'0$WUDQVIHUFRPSOHWH
'0$KDOIWUDQVIHULQWHUUXSW
LQWHUUXSW

ŝƚŚĞƌŝŶŐƉĂƚƚĞƌŶƐĐĂůĐƵůĂƚŝŽŶĨŽƌƚŚĞƐĞĐŽŶĚ ŝƚŚĞƌŝŶŐƉĂƚƚĞƌŶƐĐĂůĐƵůĂƚŝŽŶĨŽƌƚŚĞĨŝƌƐƚƉĂƌƚ
ƉĂƌƚŽĨƚŚĞƚĂďůĞнŝŶƚĞƌƌƵƉƚĨůĂŐĞƌĂƐĞ ŽĨƚŚĞƚĂďůĞнŝŶƚĞƌƌƵƉƚĨůĂŐĞƌĂƐĞ

069

3.2.3 Firmware Footprint

The firmware routines and variables declaration associated with the PWM dithering
technique implementation are located in the C source code files named “main.c” and
“stm32f30x_it.c”. The footprint of these two files (obtained with IAR EWARM v7.80

DocID026443 Rev 2 17/22

21
Demonstration AN4507

toolchain) is shown in Table 6.

Table 6. Firmware Footprint

Read-only code Read-only data Read/write data
File Name
memory memory memory

main.c 624 bytes 9 bytes 196 bytes

stm32f30x_it.c 40 bytes 0 byte 0 byte

3.3 Experimental results

3.3.1 Dithering effect on PWM resolution enhancement

Figure 8 shows the dithering effect on the rising slope of the triangular waveform. The rising
slope looks more like a continuous oblique line where the falling slope still have the
staircase shape. The falling slope has its duty-cycle controlled using a 6-bit resolution
granularity with the timer clocked at 72 MHz and the PWM frequency set at 1.125 MHz (see
Table 1, for details). When the PWM dithering is applied on the rising slope, the duty-cycle
control resolution is extended by 3 bits to reach 9-bit resolution. The output control
granularity is reduced by a ratio of 23 = 8 and the output step becomes smaller (almost
invisible on Figure 8).

Figure 8. Dithering effect applied on the rising slope of the triangular waveform

18/22 DocID026443 Rev 2

AN4507 Demonstration

3.3.2 Low-pass filter dimensioning considerations

For the example shown in Figure 9, the low-pass filter cut-off frequency has been
deliberately altered (cut-off frequency too close to the PWM frequency divided by 23 = 8).
The switching added by the dithering-effect is not well averaged and the expected fine
control may not be obtained. Nevertheless, Figure 9 is interesting to better understand the
effects of the dithering technique on the raw (unfiltered) PWM output signal.

Figure 9. Low-pass filter cut-off frequency effect on the dithering technique efficiency

DocID026443 Rev 2 19/22

21
References AN4507

4 References

1. “Quantization Resolution and Limit Cycling in Digitally Controlled PWM Converters” by

Angel V. Peterchev, Student Member, IEEE, and Seth R. Sanders, Member, IEEE.
2. STM32F30xxx and STM32F31xxx datasheets and reference manuals.

20/22 DocID026443 Rev 2

AN4507 Revision history

5 Revision history

Table 7. Document revision history

Date Revision Changes

25-Jun-2014 1 Initial release.

Following changes in the whole document:
– STSW-STM32151 replaced by X-CUBE-PWM-DITHR
– STM32F3DISCOVERY replaced by
17-Jan-2017 2
NUCLEO-F302R8
– STM32F303VCT6 replaced by STM32F302R8T6.
Updated Figure 4.

DocID026443 Rev 2 21/22

21
 AN4507

IMPORTANT NOTICE – PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

STMicroelectronics NV and its subsidiaries (“ST”) reserve the right to make changes, corrections, enhancements, modifications, and
improvements to ST products and/or to this document at any time without notice. Purchasers should obtain the latest relevant information on
ST products before placing orders. ST products are sold pursuant to ST’s terms and conditions of sale in place at the time of order
acknowledgement.

Purchasers are solely responsible for the choice, selection, and use of ST products and ST assumes no liability for application assistance or
the design of Purchasers’ products.

No license, express or implied, to any intellectual property right is granted by ST herein.

Resale of ST products with provisions different from the information set forth herein shall void any warranty granted by ST for such product.

ST and the ST logo are trademarks of ST. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners.

Information in this document supersedes and replaces information previously supplied in any prior versions of this document.

© 2017 STMicroelectronics – All rights reserved

22/22 DocID026443 Rev 2