Optimal Phase Margin

for Minimal Settling Time

A s ( )

u
s
1
1
s
p2
+
=
useful functions and identities
Units
Constants
_______________________________________
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. Inputs
III. Phase Margin, Q, and Damping Factor
IV. Transient Response
V. Copyright and Trademark Notice
_______________________________________
Introduction
What is the truth to the rumor that the optimal phase margin for minimal settling time is 45 deg, 60 deg, 64 deg,
or critical damping? What phase margin corresponds to critical damping? These questions will be answered in this
report with specific application to second order systems consisting of a dominant and non-dominant poles.
_______________________________________
Inputs
SNR 80dB :
1
0 2 4 6
0
1
2
3
4
Q vs. 2nd Pole Location
p2/wu
Q
0 2 4 6
0
0.5
1
1.5
Damping vs. 2nd Pole Location
p2/wu
d
a
m
p
i
n
g

f
a
c
t
o
r
0 2 4 6
0
50
100
Phase Margin vs. 2nd Pole Location
p2/wu
P
M

(
d
e
g
)
p2_u
i
i
num
5 : 0t
i
i 1
num 1
20 : i 1 num .. : num 50 :
As a designer we have control over the pole locations, which is swept in the following plots to show the
relationship between non-dominant pole location and Q, phase margin and damping factor.
1 2 3 4
0
10
20
30
Bandwidth Loss vs. Non-dominant Pole
p2/wu
B
a
n
d
w
i
d
t
h

l
o
s
s

(
%
)
This phase margin expression assumes, the unity gain bandwidth is entirely determined by the dominant pole. In
practice, the non-dominant pole will reduce the real unity gain bandwidth from the expected value. For properly
placed non-dominant pole this error is only about 5%, as shown in the following figure:
PM p2_u ( ) 90
180

atan
1
p2_u

,
: p2_u ( )
p2_u
2
: Q p2_u ( )
1
p2_u
:

0

u
p2_u =
The closed loop gain can be expressed in terms of Q, damping factor, phase margin, or as a function of
non-dominant pole location with respect to unity gain bandwidth.
A
cl
A
ol
1 A
ol
+
=
1
s
2
p2
u

u
+ 1 +
=
1
s

,
2
1
Q
s

0
+ 1 +
=
1
s

,
2
2
s

0
+ 1 +
=
The closed loop transfer function given this forward path gain is given by the following equations. In this closed
loop response the feedback factor is assumed to unity, as it will be lumped into
u
.
A
ol

u
s
1
1
s
p2
+
=
The open loop response of most second order systems can be represented in the following form. This form
assumes infinite gain at DC. This assumption results in neglible error for DC gains greater than 10, which is the case for
most operational amplifiers with DC gains typically greater than 500.
_______________________________________
Phase Margin, Q and Damping Factor
2
err2 p2_u 0t , ( )
p
2
p2_u ( )
p2_u 4
exp p
1
p2_u ( ) 0t ( )
p
1
p2_u ( )
p2_u 4
exp p
2
p2_u ( ) 0t ( ) :
h t ( ) 1
p
2
p
1
p
2
( )
exp p
1

0
t ( )
p
1
p
1
p
2
( )
exp p
2

0
t ( ) + =
An overdamped system is very slow. However it is often used in systems with large process variations, to
avoid crossing into extreme underdamped scenarios.
Overdamped
err1 p2_u 0t , ( ) e
p2_u
2
0t

,
1
4
p2_u
1
sin 1
p2_u
4
0t

,
cos 1
p2_u
4
0t

,
:
err t ( ) h t ( ) 1 = e

0
t ( )
1
2

sin 1
2

0
t

_
,
cos 1
2

0
t

_
,

,
=
h t ( ) 1 e

0
t ( )
1
2

sin 1
2

0
t

_
,
cos 1
2

0
t

_
,

,
+ =
A
cl
1
s
p
1
1 +

,
s
p
2
1 +

=
p
2
p2_u ( ) p2_u ( ) p2_u ( )
2
1 : p
1
p2_u ( ) p2_u ( ) p2_u ( )
2
1 + :
For damping factors less than one, the system is underdamped. This is the preferred operating condition for
almost all systems for minimum settling time.
Underdamped
err0 0t ( ) 0t 1 + ( ) exp 0t ( ) :
h 0t ( ) 1 0t 1 + ( ) exp 0t ( ) :
For a critcally damped system, the damping factor is one. This response has a transient response and settling
error given by the following expression:
Critically damped
In this section, the settling time is found. This first requires the transient response be found. For a second order
system, three possible equations can result, depending on whether the response is under, over, or critically damped.
_______________________________________
Transient Response
3
Overall Error vs. Non-Dominant Pole Location
The three transient responses are merged into the following expression:
err p2_u 0t , ( ) if p2_u 4 = err0 0t ( ) , if
p2_u
2
1 err2 p2_u 0t , ( ) , err1 p2_u 0t , ( ) ,

,
,

,
:
The required settling accuracy is calculated from the SNR requirements as follows
V
acc
10
SNR
20
:
From the transient response we can find the settling time
0t
settle
p2_u V
acc
, ( ) t
val
0
t
val
if err p2_u 0t
i
, ( ) V
acc
( ) err p2_u 0t
i 1
, ( ) V
acc
> ( ) 0t
i
, t
val
,

1
]

i 2 num .. for
t
val
:
Settling time is best found by plotting settling error on a logarithmic axis verses time.
0 5 10 15 20
1
.
10
7
1
.
10
6
1
.
10
5
1
.
10
4
1
.
10
3
0.01
0.1
1
Settling Error vs. Time
Time (w0*t)
S
e
t
t
l
i
n
g

E
r
r
o
r0t
settle
2 V
acc
, ( )
When the nondominant pole is swept, we can see how the settling time varies
0 1 2 3 4 5
5
10
15
20
Settling Time vs. Non-dominant Pole
Settling Time (w0*t)
p
2
/
w
u
Now we can find the optimum pole placement for settling given a required settling accuracy:
p2_u
opt
V
acc
( ) 0t
setmin
1000000
opt 0
0t
set
0t
settle
p2_u
i
V
acc
, ( )
opt if 0t
set
0t
setmin
< p2_u
i
, opt , ( )
0t
setmin
if 0t
set
0t
setmin
< 0t
set
, 0t
setmin
, ( )
i 2 num .. for
opt
: p2_u
opt
V
acc
( ) 3.4
4
This corresponds to a phase margin of
PM
opt
V
acc
( ) 90
180

atan
1
p2_u
opt
V
acc
( )

,
: PM
opt
V
acc
( ) 73.61
num 7 :
i 1 num .. :
SNR
i
30 i 10 + :
V
acc
i
10
SNR
i

20
:
Now for the most useful plot of this report: Optimal phase margin verses SNR requirements. 76 degrees
represents critical damping. The optimal phase margin approaches this as the SNR requirements get large.
40 50 60 70 80 90 100
60
65
70
75
80
Optimal Phase Margin vs. SNR
SNR (dB)
P
h
a
s
e

M
a
r
g
i
n

(
d
e
g
)
Similarly, the optimal non-dominant pole placement approaches 4*
u
for large SNR requirements
40 50 60 70 80 90 100
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
Optimal Non-dominant pole vs. SNR
SNR (dB)
p
2
/
w
u
5
It is interesting to that optimized settling time is the same as first order settling with a bandwidth of
0
, and in
most cases 40% faster than critical settling.
0t
setlin
SNR ( )
SNR
20
ln 10 ( ) :
40 50 60 70 80 90 100
0
5
10
15
Optimal 2nd order settling
1st order Settling
Critical 2nd order settling
SNR (dB)
S
e
t
t
l
i
n
g

T
i
m
e

(
w
0
*
t
)
Extra comments:
-Third order loops are trickier to analyze, because their are two variables involved in the settling: phase margin and
gain margin.
-This analysis assumes linearity is limited by the exponential settling error.
-With ideal 1st order linear settling, incomplete settling does not affect SDR.
-For continuous time filters and PLLs the optimum phase margin is low, in the 50 degree range.
_______________________________________
Copyright and Trademark Notice
All software and other materials included in this document are protected by copyright, and are owned or
controlled by Circuit Sage.
The routines are protected by copyright as a collective work and/or compilation, pursuant to federal copyright
laws, international conventions, and other copyright laws. Any reproduction, modification, publication, transmission,
transfer, sale, distribution, performance, display or exploitation of any of the routines, whether in whole or in part,
without the express written permission of Circuit Sage is prohibited.
6