1

An Improved Modeling and Analysis Technique for

Peak Current Mode Control based Boost Converters
Saifullah Amir, Student Member, IEEE, Ronan v. d. Zee, Member, IEEE, and Bram Nauta, Fellow, IEEE

University of Twente, IC Design group, Enschede, The Netherlands

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract

A modeling approach is presented that calculates an accurate open loop transfer characteristic for a boost converter that
employ peak current-mode control (PCMC). Many techniques exist for modeling a PCMC based boost converter, however all
these techniques focus on purely resistive loads and are not always accurate for a purely capacitive load. In this paper a new
modeling technique is presented which is simple and gives accurate results for both capacitive and resistive loads. Furthermore,
the useful expressions for DC gain and pole locations of a boost converter operating in continuous-conduction mode (CCM) with
PCMC are derived and compare well to simulations and measurements.

Index Terms

Boost converter, continuous-conduction mode (CCM), peak current-mode control (PCMC), capacitive load, small-signal
transfer function.

L IST OF S YMBOLS

C Output load capacitance

D Duty cycle

D0 1-D

Fm Modulator gain for Ridley’s model

Fh (s) Control-to-inductor current transfer function

Fm1 Modulator gain for Tan’s model

Fm2 Modulator gain for Bryant’s model

G0 DC gain

Gid (s) Duty-to-inductor current transfer function

Gvd (s) Duty-to-output voltage transfer function

He (s) Sampling effect in current feedback loop

L Inductance of the inductor

M1 Slope of sensed inductor current during on period

 2

M2 Slope of sensed inductor current during off period

Mc Slope of external ramp

RL Load resistance

Rs Current sense gain

Resr Equivalent Series Resistance (ESR) of the capacitor

Ts Switching period

Tco (s) Control-to-output voltage transfer function

Vdd Supply voltage

ωp Dominant pole frequency

ωrhpz Right-Half plane Zero frequency

ωzero ESR zero frequency

fs Switching frequency

iLp Peak inductor current

iL Inductor current

kr Output voltage feedforward gain for Ridley’s model

kr1 Output voltage feedforward gain for Tan’s model

kr2 Output voltage feedforward gain for Bryant’s model

mc Slope compensation factor

vC Control input voltage

vO Output voltage

I. I NTRODUCTION

P
IEZOLECTRIC transducers find countless applications in the area of sound generation, actuation, etc [1]. These

transducers can electrically be modeled as capacitive loads and require a high voltage to drive them, which necessitates

the use of boost converters in battery powered applications. Maximum efficiency can be achieved by using the boost converter

directly to generate the signal for the transducer, avoiding the use of an additional amplifier stage. In order to use a boost

converter for signal generation, understanding the dynamics and stability of the system is a crucial step.

Peak current-mode control (PCMC) is a popular control technique for DC-DC converters due to the fast transient response,

overload protection, accuracy and ease of compensation. A PCMC based boost converter is shown in Fig 1. With a capacitive

load, the output power flow is bidirectional, so the converter can only run in continuous-conduction mode (CCM). The output

voltage is sensed via the feedback network of Rf b1 and Rf b2 in the compensator to determine the control voltage, where

the impedance of the feedback network is much higher than the load impedance. The duty ratio is calculated by comparing

the inductor current sensed by the Rs block with the control voltage vC in the modulator. The duty ratio is then converted

to an output voltage by the switching power stage. The PCMC system is a multi-loop system with an inner current loop

and an outer voltage loop. The stability of the complete system is highly dependent on the stability of the inner loop, hence
 3

accurately predicting the closed current loop characteristics is very important for stable operation. Many modeling techniques

have been developed in the past to effectively predict the small-signal characteristics of switching converters operating with

PCMC [2]–[24].

Some of the previous modeling approaches have used exact discrete-time and sampled-data modeling techniques [16]–[23].

However, due to complicated results, they lack insight into simple converter parameters and therefore are difficult to interpret

as a circuit designer. Another popular approach is to use continuous time-models [2]–[15]. These modeling techniques use

a common methodology in representation of the entire system, but differ mainly in representing the sampling effect and

modulator gain. These modeling techniques give very accurate results for classical applications where the load is dominantly

resistive and the output capacitor is large to get small ripple. In our case, however, we intend to use the boost converter as a

signal generator, necessitating the use of a much smaller output capacitor to increase bandwidth. Furthermore, the piezoelectric

load is dominantly capacitive (RL = ∞ in Fig 1). It will be shown that the existing models are less accurate in this case,

which motivated us to development a new model. In order to get a highly accurate model of a boost converter for wide load

Inductor(L) Load Rfb1

Output
supply(Vdd)

resistor
Rs=Ai*Ri capacitor
Driver (RL)
(C ) Rfb2
Ri A Vsense=iL*Rs
i
Slope compensation (Mc)

Vfeedback
Current loop +
Voltage
loop
R
Q S Vc -
+
Comparator Compensator
SR Latch
Clock (fs) Vref

Fig. 1. A peak current-mode control based bi-directional boost converter

variations (for both capacitive and resistive loads), an unambiguous and a simple approach is used here by analyzing the

complete converter stage (including closed-current loop) in discrete-time domain and then convert it to continuous-time for

better insight into circuit parameters. The new approach doesn’t need to separately analyse the current loop and power stage;

instead, the closed-current loop is analyzed with capturing the effect of the output voltage simultaneously.

The outline of the paper is as follows: In Section 2, the limitations of existing modeling approaches are discussed in detail.

A complete and accurate small-signal model from control-to-output voltage of a PCMC based boost converter with capacitive

and resistive load is derived in section 3. Finally, the model is verified and compared with simulation and measurement results.
 4

II. L IMITATIONS OF E XISTING M ODELING A PPROACHES

To model switched-mode converters, in [2] the complete model is obtained by combining the low-frequency modulator

model with a state-space average model of the power stage. This is an interesting technique due to its simplicity but lacks the

accuracy to predict the current loop instability at high frequencies. The work proposed in [17] uses sampled-data modeling for

the current loop and thus is able to predict the well-known subharmonic oscillations at high frequency. However this technique

alone is too complex to be used in practical design. A simplified switch model was proposed in [4] to model the switching

power stage and an extension of this model to current-mode control is reported in [24]. This technique achieves good accuracy,

but the drawback of using the pulse-width modulation (PWM) switch model and incorporating current-mode control makes

the method complex and is generally not straightforward. The injected-absorbed current approach [25] is aimed at providing

ease of design and analysis, but provides less accurate results.

A continuous-time model is proposed by Ridley in [7], with the combination of a sampled-data model for the inductor-current

loop and a three-terminal switch model for the power stage. This model has been very popular and provides better accuracy

than the earlier approaches for both low and high frequencies. The method in [7] lies at the basis of subsequent techniques

presented by Tan in [6] and Bryant in [9]. Therefore, this technique is discussed in more detail here.
The circuit in Fig 1 is represented as a block diagram with a closed current-loop [7] and is shown in Fig 2. The power stage

is modeled using the duty-to-output voltage transfer Gvd (s) and duty-to-inductor current transfer Gid (s). The inductor current

is sensed and converted to a voltage by the sense block Rs . The sampling effect is represented by He (s) and is inserted into

the current feedback loop, where (Fm ) represents the modulator gain. The effect of the changing output voltage on the current

loop is modeled by including an extra feedback path from output to the control voltage defined as output voltage feedforward

gain (kr ) [7]. It should be noted that the signals and blocks in this block diagram represent the structure of the model rather

than actual physical blocks. In this method, the first step is to calculate basic power stage functions Gvd (s) and Gid (s). These

kr

Power Stage
vc(s) + +
d(s)
Gvd(s)
Fm
-Σ vo(s)
Gid(s)

Current loop (Ti)

iL(s)

He(s) Rs

Fig. 2. Block diagram of the modeling approach for PCMC proposed by Ridley [7]

transfer functions can be calculated in different ways, we have used state-space averaging here to calculate the power stage

transfer functions for a boost converter stage and the results are formulated as:
 5

Vdd 2 2
RL D 02
(RL D0 − sRL L)
Gvd = (1)
D0 2 RL + sL + s2 RL LC

Vdd
D 0 (2 + sRL C)
Gid = 02
(2)
D RL + sL + s2 RL LC

In the next step, the control-to-inductor current transfer function is obtained in discrete-time followed by conversion into

continuous-time form and is represented as [7]:

il (s) 1 1 + α esTs − 1
Fh (s) = = (3)
vc (s) Rs sTs esTs + α

where

M2 −Mc
α= M1 +Mc

Where M1 is the on time inductor current slope, M2 is the off time inductor current slope, Mc is the slope of compensation

ramp, Ts is the switching period and α defines the slope compensation effect. The same notation will be used for all subsequent

derivations.

This model uses He (s) to incorporate the high-frequency effects and it is calculated using (3) and is approximated as [7]:

s s2
He (s) ∼
=1+ + (4)
ωn Q ωn 2

where

−2 π
Q= π and ωn = Ts

Ridley [7] presents the modulator gain (F m) and feedforward gain kr for the boost converter as:
2
1 D0 Ts Rs
Fm = , kr = (5)
(M1 + Mc )Ts 2L

Using the block diagram in Fig 2, the final control-to-output transfer function using Ridley’s model can be expressed as:

Fm Gvd (s)
Toc (s) = (6)
1 + Gid (s)Fm Rs He (s) − kr Gvd (s)Fm

The final control-to-output transfer function in (6) can now be calculated using (1), (2), (4) and (5). A similar approach is

also presented by Tan in [6], where a different modulator gain (Fm1 ) and the feedforward gain kr1 is presented as :

1 DD0 Ts
Fm1 = (D 0 −D)Vdd
, kr1 = (7)
Mc + (1 + s 2L
2L ωp )Ts

ωn
ωp = (8)
Q
1
Q= (9)
π(mc D0 − 0.5)
 6

Mc
mc = 1 + (10)
M1

The major difference between [7] and [6] is the way the modulator gain, feedforward gain and the high-frequency extension is

modeled. The first one uses He (s) and the other adds an extra pole in the modulator gain (Fm1 ). Hence Tan’s model doesn’t

consider the sampling effect He (s) as a separate block in feedback, but rather combines it within the modulator gain. The

third popular approach similar to Tan’s model is presented by Bryant in [9], where the modulator gain (Fm2 ) is calculated

by using a closed current-loop and the feedforward gain is ignored in this approach. The modulator gain calculated by Bryant

includes the sampling effect within the loop and is presented as:

1
Fm2 = sTs esT +α
, kr2 = 0 (11)
Gid Rs ( 1+α esT −1
− 1)

In order to verify all of the models presented in [6], [7], [9], the models are derived using (6) with their respective modulator

gains (Fm , Fm1 , Fm2 ) and feedforwad gains (kr , kr1 , kr2 ), and the results are compared in Fig 3 with SIMPLIS simulation.

The circuit parameters listed in table I are used with the output capacitance (C) and output resistance (RL ) to represent a

typical application using a resistive load. It is interesting to note that the results shown in Fig 3 are indeed very accurate and

TABLE I
C IRCUIT PARAMETERS

Parameters Values
Duty ratio (D) 0.5
Slope compensation factor (mc ) 1.66
Compensating slope (Mc ) 24mV /µs
On time inductor current sense slope (M1 ) 36mV /µs
Inductor (L) 100 µH
Current sense gain(Rs = Ri ·Ai ) 50mΩ∗6
Supply voltage (Vdd ) 12V
Switching frequency (fs ) 1MHz
Resistive load (RL kC) (50Ωk10µF)
Capacitive load (RL = ∞kC) 26nF
Control voltage for capacitive load (Vc) 20mV
Control voltage for resistive load (Vc) 300mV

match well with the simulation results for all the models. To validate the models in [6], [7], [9] for a capacitive load, the output

load in the circuit in Fig 1 is replaced by a purely capacitive load (RL −→ ∞). The static capacitance of the piezo actuator

dominates at most frequencies, so a simple capacitor is a fairly accurate representation. Also the value of C is decreased to get

sufficient bandwidth (see Table I) and the simulation results are re-evaluated following the same steps as mentioned before.

The results are plotted in Fig 4.

The results shown in Fig 4 are not very accurate for low frequencies for Tan’s model compared to the simulation, whereas

Bryant’s model misses the low frequency pole completely. The simulation results for low frequency behaviour predicted by

Ridley’s model is indeed accurate but shows a 15 degree phase deviation at fs /2 as compared to simulation results. In traditional

applications, indeed, the difference at low frequency doesn’t drastically affect the overall system design, as they are designed

for DC operation only. However, in order to generate dynamically varying signals, like in our case, a more accurate model is

important due to the wide variation in duty ratio.

 7

30 Ridley’s model [7]

Magnitude (dB)
Tan’s model [6]
20 Bryant’s model [9]
SIMPLIS simulation
10

0
0

Phase (deg)
−90

−180

−270 1 2 3 4 5
10 10 10 10 10 0.5fs
Frequency (Hz)

Fig. 3. Comparison of the Ridley [7], Tan [6] and Bryant [9] models control-to-output transfer Tco (s) with SIMPLIS simulation for a PCMC boost converter
with resistive load (50Ωk10µF).

80 Ridley’s model [7]

Magnitude (dB)

Tan’s model [6]

60 Bryant’s model [9]
SIMPLIS simulation

40

20
0
−45
Phase (deg)

−90
−135
−180 3 4 5
10 10 10 0.5fs
Frequency (Hz)

Fig. 4. Comparison of the Ridley [7], Tan [6] and Bryant [9] models control-to-output transfer Tco (s) with SIMPLIS simulation for a PCMC boost converter
with capacitive load (26nF).

The reason for the deviations between models and simulation can be explained by the choice of different modulator gain

Fm , which is a block in a feedback system (Fig 2) of which the behavior depends on the closed loop itself. Therefore it is not

as much calculated as selected in [6], [7] allowing for contradictory expressions. In [9], Fm is calculated from the closed loop,

but the result is even less accurate as shown above. Therefore it should be noted that the accuracy of these models depends

greatly on the way the modulator gain Fm , the gain term kr and the sampling effect He (s) are defined. The inconsistency in

these definitions makes the above mentioned methods less attractive. In addition, all of these approaches require the derivation

of many blocks, namely Fm , kr , Gvd (s), Gid (s) and He (s). As an alternative, we present a modeling technique that uses a

much more straightforward analysis and provides highly accurate results for both capacitive and resistive loads for both high

and low frequencies.

 8

III. S MALL -S IGNAL A NALYSIS

The complete small-signal model of a PCMC based boost converter consists of the power stage and the closed current-loop.

Therefore as a first step, the power stage and the closed current-loop are simultaneously modeled by using a discrete-time

approach in subsection A. The resultant discrete-time model is than converted to the continuous-time domain for clear insight

into different circuit parameters in subsection B.

A. Discrete-time State Space Modeling

This section derives the control-to-output (Tco ) transfer function of the PCMC based boost converter for generic load

(RL kC) using discrete-time analysis. The process of determining the transfer function starts with the inspection of the relevant

Inductor(L)

+
Supply(Vdd)

iL Output
capacitor
VO RL (Large)
Rs=Ai*Ri (C)
Driver -
Ri Ai
Comparator
Vsense=iL*Rs
R
QS (Mc)
i-
Slope compensation
SR Latch vC
Clock (fs)

+ VC
-

Fig. 5. A closed-current loop PCMC based boost converter with RC (RL kC) load

waveforms of the circuit shown in Fig 5. The time-domain waveforms of the PCMC based converter are shown in Fig 6(a),

where Rs iL is a measure for the sensed inductor current and M1 and M2 are the sensed inductor current on-time and off-time

slopes respectively. In order to dampen the subharmonic oscillations and have a stable operation, a compensating slope Mc

is required. Adding slope compensation to the current signal is equivalent to subtracting a slope from the control voltage vC .

The control voltage vC in combination with the compensating ramp determines the peak inductor current iLp .
For the discrete-time analysis, the clock signal initiates each switching cycle at T (n) with switching period Ts divided into

on-time t1 and off-time t2 as shown in Fig 6(b).

The difference equations representing the state variables inductor current (iL ) and output voltage (vO ) can be formulated from

the geometry of the sensed current waveforms in Fig 6(b). The difference equation representing the discrete-time inductor

current iL at sampling instant T (n + 1) can be written as:

Rs iLp (n) − M2 t2
iL (n + 1) = (12)
Rs

The difference equation representing the discrete-time output voltage vO (n + 1), can be represented as the sum of the previous

output voltage vO (n) at sampling instant (T (n)) and the voltage difference due to the flow of charge in the output capacitor.

This charge consists of the charge supplied by the inductor during t2 and the charge drained by the load resistance during the
 9

vc(t)
Mc

Voltage (V)
RsiLp(t)

M1 M2 vsense=Rs*iL
RsiL(t=0)
Time (sec)
(a) Continuous-time domain converter waveform for PCMC

vc(n)

Continous
RsiLp(n) Mc vslope

time
M1 M2

RsiL(n) RsiL(n+1)

discrete
time
t1 t2
Ts
T(n) T(n+1)
(b) Continuous-time to discrete-time domain representation

Fig. 6. Converter waveforms for PCMC with continuous-time and sampled discrete-time at clock T(n).

full switching cycle. The current during t2 is the average current of iLp (n) and iL (n + 1) and hence the output voltage can

be expressed as:
(iLp (n) + iL (n + 1)) t2 vO (n) Ts
vO (n + 1) = vO (n) + − (13)
2C RL C

In (12) and (13), it is easy to see from Fig 6(b) that:

Rs iLp (n) = Rs iL (n) + t1 M1

vC (n) − Rs iL (n)
t1 =
M1 + Mc

t2 = Ts − t1 ,

Also, from the power stage as shown in Fig 5 we know that:

Vdd Rs (vO − Vdd ) Rs

M1 = , M2 = ,
L L

D0 = 1 − D

Where D represents the duty ratio and Vdd is the supply voltage. In order to construct the small-signal model, (12) and (13)
 10

are first written as a function of only iL (n), vC (n) and vO (n) as:

(vO (n) − Vdd )Ts

iL (n + 1) = iL (n) − + (vC (n) − iL (n)Rs )K1 (14)
L

where
M1 + M2
K1 =
Rs (M1 + Mc )

Rs iL (n) + M1 t1 + Rs iL (n + 1)
vO (n + 1) = vO (n) + .t2
2Rs C (15)
−K2

where
vO (n)Ts
K2 =
RL C

The next step involves perturbation around the steady state point which is done by applying the following substitutions:

iL (n + 1) → IL (n + 1) + il (n + 1) (16)

iL (n) → IL (n) + il (n) (17)

vC (n) → VC (n) + vc (n) (18)

vO (n) → VO (n) + vo (n) (19)

vO (n + 1) → VO (n + 1) + vo (n + 1) (20)

Where IL (n + 1), IL (n), VC (n), VO (n) and VO (n + 1) are the DC steady state terms. By substitution of (16), (17), (18), (19)

and (20) in (14) and (15) the DC, first and second order terms are obtained. For the small-signal derivation the DC terms are

cancelled and the second order terms are ignored, which results in the following simplified small-signal difference equation:

il (n + 1) = −il (n) k0 − vo (n) k1 + vc (n) k2 (21)

vo (n + 1) = il (n) k3 + vo (n) k4 + vc (n) k5 (22)

where
M2 − Mc
k0 = α =
M1 + Mc

(1 − D) Ts Vdd
k1 = , k2 =
L (1 − D) L (M1 + Mc )

α D 0 Ts M1 L M1 (D) Ts
k3 = − + +
C C (M1 + Mc ) RL D 0 2 2C (M1 + Mc )
2
D 0 Ts 2 Ts
k4 = 1 − −
2CL RL C
 11

Vdd Ts (1 − 0.5 D) Vdd

k5 = −
CL (M1 + Mc ) C (M1 + Mc ) RL D 0 2

Equation (21) and (22) are the fundamental equations for the PCMC based boost converter and can be now easily converted

to state-space representation.

The independent states (il and vo ) in the circuit contribute to the state vector x[n] and the independent input source (vc ) to

the input vector u[n]. Hence the general state-space model of a PCMC based boost converter can be represented as:

x[n + 1] = Ax[n] + Bu[n] (23)

where  
i
 l (n)
u[n] = vc (n), x[n] = 


vo (n)
   
−k0 −k1  k2 
A= , B =  
k3 k4 k5

(23) is a complete state-space representation of the circuit and the control-to-output transfer function can be found by taking

the Z-transform:

zx(z) = Ax(z) + Bu(z) (24)

rearranging we get,
x(z)
= (zI − A)−1 B (25)
u(z)

Where I is the identity matrix. Substituting the matrices of A and B in (25) and rearranging the terms, the control-to-output

discrete-time transfer function Tco (z) can be written as:

vo (z) a4 z + a3
Tco (z) = = G0 2
(26)
vc (z) a2 z + a1 z + a0

where
−Vdd
G0 =
D0 2 (M1 + Mc )

3
a4 = 2 L (M1 + Mc ) D 0 + (M1 + Mc ) RL (−2 + D) Ts D 0

 
2
a3 = (α (M1 + Mc ) D 0 − M1 ) RL Ts D 0 (D) + 2 L

a2 = 2 CD 0 LRL (M1 + Mc )
2
Ts 2 D0
a1 = 2D0 ((C(α − 1)L + )RL + LTs )(M1 + Mc )
2
3 2
a0 = −α RL Ts 2 (M1 + Mc ) D 0 + D 0 (D) RL Ts 2 M1

−2 α (M1 + Mc ) L (−Ts + CRL ) D 0 + 2 LTs M1

 12

B. Continuous-time domain representation

Equation (26) gives an accurate system representation in discrete-time domain and can be very helpful in making digital

control circuits. However, for better insight into how different circuit parameters influence the behaviour of the transfer function,

a continuous-time representation can be very helpful. Therefore in this section, (26) is converted to continuous-time using a

second-order Padé approximation of z = esTs . A first-order approximation of esTs would not change the number of poles, and

would not be able to translate the left half plane z-domain pole that describes the ringing around fs /2 [26].

s2 + 6fs s + 12fs 2 1
z = esTs ≈ , (Ts = ) (27)
s2 − 6fs s + 12fs 2 fs

Putting (27) in (26), the continuous-time domain control-to-output transfer function Tco (s) results in a fourth-order function

with the form of :

q4 s4 + q3 s3 + q2 s2 + q1 s + q0
Tco (s) = (28)
p4 s4 + p3 s3 + p2 s2 + p1 s + p0

The coefficients of (28) can be simplified by using the following assumptions:

1
fs  (29)
2πRL C
1
fs  √ (30)
2π LC

This means that the switching frequency is higher than the RL C and LC frequency of the power stage. This will generally

be true to achieve an acceptable ripple, so (28) can be rewritten as:

k 0 (c4 s4 + c3 s3 + c2 s2 + c1 s + c0 )
Tco (s) = (31)
b4 s4 + b3 s3 + b2 s2 + b1 s + b0

where

k 0 = −2Vdd

2
c4 = −Ts 4 D 0 RL

2
c3 = 6 D 0 DRL Ts 3 + 12 LTs 2

 
2
c2 = −72 Ts 1/2 RL (−1/3 + D) D 0 Ts + L

2
c1 = 144 L + 72 RL D 0 Ts D

2
c0 = −144 D 0 RL
3
D0 RL Ts (M1 + Mc )
b4 = 2Ts 4 ( +
2

LD0 (1 + α)(M1 + Mc ) + LM1 )

 13

b3 = 24CD0 LRL Ts (M1 + Mc )

b2 = (1 − α)(144CD0 LRL Ts (M1 + Mc ))

b1 = (288CD0 LRL (1 + α)(M1 + Mc )) = 288Vdd Rs CRL

144Ts 0 3 Rs
b0 = (D RL (Vdd Rs + 2Mc L) + 4LVdd )
L Ts

As can be seen in (31), the conversion to continuous-time results in extra poles and zeros. Often the transfer function contains

many poles and zeros, having a single dominant pole or zero. Similarly for practical power converters to work, the dominant

pole (ωp1 ) needs to be at a much lower frequency than the other poles. Hence in this case, dominant pole approximation as

explained in [27] is useful to extract the low frequency pole.

If a circuit has n number of poles and m number of zeros, the transfer function T(s) can be expressed generally as:

a0 + a1 s + a2 s2 + a3 s3 + · · · + am sm
T (s) = (32)
b0 + b1 s + b2 s2 + b3 s3 + · · · + bn sn

If a system represented by (32) is known to have a dominant pole located at much lower frequency than the other (n-1) poles,

the higher frequency poles are neglected at lower frequencies, resulting in a first order transfer function. Then, the dominant

pole in (31) can be calculated as:

b0
ωp1 = , where ωp1  ωp2 , ωp3 , ..... (33)
b1

At higher frequencies, b1 s then dominates b0 , so the complexity of the denominator in (31) can be reduced. The same technique
fs
is used on the numerator of (31) to extract the dominant zero. Subsequently, poles and zeros above 2 are neglected, which

leads to the final form:

s
1− ωrhpz
Tco (s) = G0 (34)
(1 + s
ωp )(s
2 + 6fs s (1−α)
(1+α) + 12fs 2 )

where
24Lfs 3 RL D0 Vdd
G0 =
D0 3 RL Vdd Rs + 2D0 3 RL Mc L + 4fs LVdd Rs
2
D 0 RL
ωrhpz =
L
Mc
3 ( M1 + 0.5) 2
ωp = (1 − D) +
LCfs RL C

Where G0 is the DC gain, ωrhpz is the right-half plane zero frequency, the second order term describes the subharmonic poles

and ωp is the dominant pole frequency. The model presented in (34) is not only comprehensible and accurate but can directly

be applied to capacitive loads. So for a purely capacitive loads (RL → ∞) the second term of ωp is zero, leaving:
Mc
3 ( M1 + 0.5)
ωp = (1 − D) (35)
LCfs
 14

IV. S IMULATION R ESULTS

In order to validate the model in (34), the results are first compared to simulations in SIMPLIS with circuit parameters listed

in table I.

A PCMC based boost converter running in CCM is simulated in SIMPLIS with an RC load (RL = 50Ω, C = 10µF)

and other parameters as listed in table I, and the control-to-output transfer function is plotted in Fig 7. The results from (34)

match well with the simulation for both high and low frequencies. The same model is then used for a purely capacitive load

30 Model (34)
Magnitude (dB)

SIMPLIS simulation resistive load

20

10

0
0
−45
Phase (deg)

−90
−135
−180
−225
−270 2 3 4 5
10 10 10 10 0.5fs
Frequency (Hz)

Fig. 7. Control-to-output transfer Tco (s) according to model (34) and SIMPLIS simulation for RL =50Ω, C=10µF

(RL → ∞) and the results are compared with the simulations in SIMPLIS in Fig 8. Again, the results match well with the

simulation.

60 Model (34)
Magnitude (dB)

Simplis simulation
50
40
30

0
Phase (deg)

−45
−90
−135
−180 2 3 4 5
10 10 10 10 0.5fs
Frequency (Hz)

Fig. 8. Control-to-output transfer Tco (s) according to model (34) and SIMPLIS simulation for capacitive load (RL = ∞, C=26nF).

The dominant pole location in (34) is strongly influenced by the choice of duty cycle, considering other parameters remain

constant. It is interesting to observe the effect of dominant pole movement for wide duty cycle variations as shown in Fig 9.

For purely capacitive loads, the dominant pole deviation is significant and cannot be ignored. In order to ensure the validity
 15

80 D=20% model
D=50% model

Magnitude (dB)
D=70% model
60 D=20% sim
D=50% sim
D=70% sim
40

20
0

Phase (deg)
−45
−90
−135
−180 2 3 4 5
10 10 10 10 0.5fs
Frequency (Hz)

Fig. 9. Effect of duty cycle variation on the dominant pole location for a capacitive load

of these simulation and modeling results, the model is also verified by experimental verification for a capacitive load in the

next section.

V. E XPERIMENTAL V ERIFICATION

The experimental results for a PCMC based boost converter are only verified for a capacitive load due to the focus of the

project involved. The simulation setup above demonstrates the real application area, however as the original circuit is not yet

realised, an existing boost converter board is used to verify the model and simulation results. The schematic of the setup is

shown in Fig 10. The LM5122EVM-1PH synchronous boost controller evaluation module (shown in Fig 11) is used in Forced

Decoupling capacitor
(Cd)
LM5122EVM-1PH Board

Inductor(L) Output Rfb1

Rin
Supply(Vdd)

capacitor
Vfeedback

Rs=Ai*Ri (C)
Driver Rfb2
Ri Vsense=iL*Rs
Ai
Slope compensation (Mc)
+ vc
Comparator vin vo
, , ,
R -
Q S
Reference channel

Output channel

+
Test channel

Compensator
SR Latch
Clock (fs) Vref

] HP-4194A
] ]
IMPEDANCE/
GAIN-PHASE
ANALYZER

Fig. 10. Measurement schematic of a peak current-mode control based bi-directional boost converter with capacitive load (370µF)

PWM mode for these measurements along with a gain-phase analyzer (HP-4194A). The circuit parameters are listed in table II.

A capacitor in a practical circuit has an equivalent series resistance (ESR). For practical converters, the ESR of the capacitor
 16

Fig. 11. Modified LM5122EVM-1PH synchronous boost controller evaluation module

TABLE II
C IRCUIT PARAMETERS

Parameters Values
Duty ratio (D) 0.5
Inductor (L) 10 µH
Current sense gain(Rs = Ri ·Ai ) 4mΩ∗10
Supply voltage (Vdd ) 12V
Switching frequency (fs ) 250kHz
Control voltage (Vc) 168mV
Slope compensation (peak-peak) 270mV
Output capacitance (C) 370µF
Load resistance for capacitive load (RL ) ∞
Decoupling capacitor (Cd ) 22nF
Input resistance (Rin ) 47kΩ

is much smaller than the load resistance. Therefore the ESR of the capacitor only adds an extra zero in the transfer function

and doesn’t change the DC gain and the location of the dominant and subharmonic poles. Hence the capacitor’s ESR was

ignored in the main analysis as well as in Fig 3 and 4. However for the experimental verification, ESR is present in the circuit

and to validate the effect of the ESR-zero, a small resistance of 55mΩ is added to the capacitance in simulation and the results

are shown in Fig 12. Similarly, to accommodate the effect of ESR in the model, a real zero can be added to final model with

the following expression:

1
ωzero = (36)
Resr · C

The experimental verification of the modeling is done using a testbed which is not designed to operate under such load (370µF)

conditions. We used less output capacitance in order to be able to show the low frequency pole. As a result, the test board

of the boost converter does not operate properly above 0.2fs signal frequency. Although the board is originally designed to

operate under wide duty ratio variation, reducing the output capacitor to a low value limits stable operation to around a duty

ratio of 0.5. Therefore the measurements are only performed for a duty ratio of 0.5. The results show that the model accurately

predicts the DC gain, dominant pole and subharmonic poles. The measurement results of the control-to-output transfer function

match well with the model at low frequencies, with some slight deviation at high frequencies, likely caused by measurement

artifacts.
 17

40 Model with ESR

Magnitude (dB)
Simulation with ESR
20 Measurement with ESR

−20
0

Phase (deg) −45

−90 2 3 4
10 10 10 0.2fs
Frequency (Hz)

Fig. 12. Comparison control-to-output transfer Tco (s) with simulation, measurement and model (RL → ∞).

VI. C ONCLUSION

A new modeling approach to derive the control-to-output transfer function for peak current-mode controlled DC-DC boost

converter operating in CCM is proposed. The main advantage of the proposed approach is its straightforwardness and accuracy.

The power stage transfer including inductor current-to-output voltage and duty cycle-to-output voltage need not to be derived.
The location of the dominant pole and how it is affected by circuit parameters can help to design an accurate compensator,

reduce static error and distortion at the output, especially in the case where the dominant pole moves to higher frequencies.

With dynamic signals, the operating range of the duty cycle is significant and hence care must be taken for the design of slope

compensation, selection of switching frequency and feedback compensation.

The control-to-output voltage transfer function derived here agrees very well with the simulation and measurement results.

The modeling approach in this paper concentrates on a PCMC based boost converter, but the method can also be applied to

buck or buck-boost converter topologies.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This project was funded by STW, the Dutch Technology Foundation.

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 19

Saifullah Amir (S’06) received BE degree in electronics engineering from National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST),
Pakistan in 2006. In 2009 he received the MSc degree in electrical engineering from Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm,
Sweden. From 2009 to 2011 he worked as Lecturer at NUST, Pakistan. From 2011 he is working towards the PhD degree on the
subject of energy efficient acoustic driver design for underwater wireless sensor networks at the University of Twente, The Netherlands.
His research interests include DC-DC converters, audio amplifies and mixed signal circuits.

Ronan van der Zee (M’07) received the MSc degree (cum laude) in electrical engineering from the University of Twente, Enschede,
The Netherlands in 1994. In 1999 he received the PhD degree from the same university on the subject of high efficiency audio
amplifiers. In 1999, he joined Philips Semiconductors, where he worked on class AB and class D audio amplifiers. In 2003, he joined
the IC-Design group at the University of Twente. His research interests include linear and switching power amplifiers, RF frontends
and wireless sensor networks.

Bram Nauta (M’91-SM’03-F’08) was born in 1964 in Hengelo, The Netherlands. In 1987 he received the M.Sc degree (cum laude)
in electrical engineering from the University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands. In 1991 he received the Ph.D. degree from
the same university on the subject of analog CMOS filters for very high frequencies. In 1991 he joined the Mixed-Signal Circuits
and Systems Department of Philips Research, Eindhoven the Netherlands. In 1998 he returned to the University of Twente, as full
professor heading the IC Design group. His current research interest is high-speed analog CMOS circuits, software defined radio,
cognitive radio and beamforming. He served as the Editor-in-Chief (2007-2010) of the IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits (JSSC),
and was the 2013 program chair of the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC). Also he served as Associate Editor
of IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II (1997-1999), and of JSSC (2001-2006). He was in the Technical Program Committee of the Symposium on
VLSI circuits (2009-2013) and is in the steering committee and programme committee of the European Solid State Circuit Conference (ESSCIRC). Moreover
he is member of the ISSCC Executive committee. He served as distinguished lecturer of the IEEE, is elected member of IEEE-SSCS AdCom and is IEEE
fellow. He is co-recipient of the ISSCC 2002 and 2009 ”Van Vessem Outstanding Paper Award” and In 2014 he received the Simon Stevin Meester award
(500.000), the largest Dutch national prize for achievements in technical sciences.