IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS, VOL. COM-28, NO.

11, NOVEMBER 1980

1849

Charge-Pump Phase-Lock Loops

FLOYD M. GARDNER, FELLOW,
IEEE

Abstract-Phaselfrequency detectors deliver output in the form of three-state, digital logic. Charge pumps areutilized to convertthe timed logiclevels into analog quantitiesforcontrollingthelocked oscillators. paper This analyzes charge-pump typical circuits, identifies salient features, and provides equations and graphs for the design engineer.

PHASE/FRE&ENCY ..

DETECTOR REFERENCE.=INPUT ei
CHARGE LOOP FILTER PUMP

,--v

D -

8e=ei-eo

I. INTRODUCTION

HASE-LOCK loops (PLLs) incorporating sequential-logic, phaselfrequency detectors (PFDs) have been widely used in recent years [ 11-[SI, [6, ch. 61 . Reasons for their popularity include extended tracking range, frequency-aided acquisition, andlow cost. Acharge pump usually accompanies PFD, the as illustrated in Fig. 1. The purpose of the charge pump is to convert the logic states of the PFD into analog signals suitable for controlling the voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO). Good understanding of the PFD itself has been attained but very little has published been ontheoperation of charge pumps.Inconsequence,designof.PLLscontainingcharge pumps has often proceeded as an intuitive extension of conventional PLLs. That approach obscures the special benefits and the special problems ofa charge-pump PLL. The intent of this paper is to place the design analysis of a charge-pump PLL on a sound basis so that its special features are recognized and can be either utilized or avoided, as necessary. In Section I1 we introduce the basic charge-pump model and derive the loop transfer function based on assumptions of small error (linearized loop) and narrow bandwidth as compared to the input frequency (continuous-time approximation). Section I11 is devoted to second-order PLLs wherein it is shown that Type-I1 operation is obtainable even with a passive loop-filter. This behavior is contrary to that obtained in conventional PLLs andis a particular benefit associated with charge pumps. A continuous-time approximation is not validif the loop bandwidth approaches the input frequency. In that case, the discrete-time-or sampled-nature of the loop must be recognized. Inparticular, sampling introduces stability problems that do not exist in continuous time networks; the stability limit for the second-order loop is presented. Furthermore, the control voltage (uc in Fig. 1) has large, rectangularexcursions (ripple) on eachcycleof operation. Ripple magnitude is shown to be proportional to loop bandwidth; ripple can easily be so large as to overload the VCO. The existence of ripple places limits on the application of the simple second-order loop.
Paper approved by the Editor for Communication Electronics of the IEEE Communications Society for publication without oral presentation. Manuscript received Janaury 4, 1980; revisedMay 27, 1980. The author is at 1755 University Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94301.

Filters are frequently added after the chargepump to reduce the ripple. SectionIV describes the loop performance obtaining fromaddition of a singlecapacitor-the simplestpossible ripple fiter. The loop isnow third order (although still Type 11) so analysis is more complicated. Root-locus plots aregiven for the continuous-time approximation. Forwider bandwidths,a discrete-time, linearized analysis yields a zplane characteristic-function from whichpolelocationsand stability limits maybe obtained. Ripplereduction factor is also set forth. Results of a nonlinear, discrete state-variable analysis of the s e c o n d - o r d e r loop are d e s c r i b e d in Part V. It turns out that transient settling timesofwide-band loops obtained bydiscrete-time analysis are very similar to the scaled settling times ofnarrow loops analyzed ontheordinary continuous-time basis. Similar analysis is possible for the third-order loop, but has not been pursued.
11. MODEL

The states of a sequential-logic PFD are initiated by edges of the input waveform. In Fig. 1, if the R-inputphase leads the V-inputphase,thenanedgeofthe R input sets the U (denoting up) terminal true. The next V edge resets the U terminal false. As long as R leads V , the D (fordown) terminal remains false. Conversely, if V leads, R , a V edge sets D true and the next R edge resets D false. Both U and D can be false simultaneously, or either one alone can be true, but both can never be true simultarieously. Therefore, a PFD has three allowable states at its two output terminals. The states will be denoted as U ,D, and N , where the last connotes null or neutral. It is also possible to have combinatorial (or multiplier; see [6, ch. 61 for terminology)phase detectors with three-state logic outputs as in [7] and [8]. A combinatorial PD does not have the frequency-detector properties of the sequential PFD, but the charge-pump analyses given here apply to either type of circuit in the phase-locked condition: Matters of frequency acquisition are not treated in this paper.

0090-6778/80/1100-1849$00.75 0 1980 IEEE

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11, NOVEMBER 1980

Assume that the PLL is locked and denotethe frequency of the input signal as ai,radians/second. Let the phase error be B i - B o = B e radians. The ON time of either U or D, as appropriate, is
t p = Be

I/wi

(1)

for each period 2n/wi of the input signal. (The subscript p connotes pump.) These two features-the three-state description and the O N timeequation-completely characterize the PFD or PD for purposes of this paper. A charge pump is nothing but a three-position, electronic switch that is controlled by the three states of the PFD. When the switch is set in the U or D position, it delivers a pump voltage kVp [Fig.2(a) and (c)]or a pump current U p [Fig. 2(b) and (d)] to the loop filter. In the N position, the switch is open, thereby isolating the loop filter from the charge pump (Cl and the phase detector. This open condition is not encountered in the conventional, analog PLLs and it engenders important, novel characteristics, as will be seen presently. The loop filter can be either passive, as in Fig. 2(a) and (b), or active, as in Fig. 2(c) and (d). The significant features of the filters to be studied here are contained in the impedance I (d) Z s () , ofFig. 2, where s is the Laplace-transform complex variable. Fig. 2. Charge pumps and loop filters. Most attention will be given to the current-pump, passivefilter configuration ofFig.2(b).This choice is made partly filter impedance 2, for the time t p on each cycle. Each cycle because analysis is simplified but alsobecause the configurahas aduration 2n/wi seconds so, utilizing (l), the average tion is eminently practical under many real-life conditions. It error current over a cycle is will be shown that performance of the other three configurations isreadily obtained, at least approximately,from the amps. = IpBe/2n id (2) analysis of2(b). Because of the switching, the charge-pump PLL is a timevarying network; an exact analysis must take account of the Equation ( 2 ) is also the error current averaged over many time variations of the circuit topologyand that is amorecycles, provided that both inputs are periodic-that no input involved procedure than usually found in the common time- cycles are missing. However, in some applications-notably, in invariant networks. In particuiar, simple transfer-function recovery of clock from digital bit streams-edges, or pulses, of analysis is not directly applicable to time-varying networks. the R input will be missing at random. To avoid imposing an In many applications, the state of the PLL changes by only erroneously large error current upon the PLL, it is necessary a very small amount on each cycle of the input signal. That is, to arrange the logic circuits to recognize the absence of R and the loop bandwidth is small compared to the signal frequency. to force the circuit into the N state upon those occasions. If In thesecaseswemay not care about the detailed behavior the average error current on a single cycle is id, as in (2), and within a single cycle and may be interested only in the average if the probability of occurrence of R (the so-called transition behavior over many cycles. By applying an averaged analysis, density) is denoted d , then the average error current over the time-varying operation .can be bypassed and the powerful many cycles is idd. Where applicable, d must be factored into tool of transfer functions retained for our usage. The re- each of the following expressions that treats average behavior. mainder of this section is devoted to the derivation of averageOscillator control voltage is given by operation transfer functions. Be aware, though, that the percycle behavior can be important even for quite narrow bandwidths, as will be shownlater. Using Fig. 2(b), a pump currentIp s g n Be is delivered to the where Id(s) is the Laplace transform of id(t), and shilarly for the other symbols. For a locked loop (the only condition for which transfer functions are applicable, because of out-of1 Equation (1) is exact if the VCO leads the input signal but is an approximation, valid for small bandwidth (compared to input fre- lock nonlinearities) the VCO phase is given by
quency), if the signal leads the VCO. The approximation arises because the VCO phase can change during the ON interval. The effect is usually negligible andis considered further in Section V.

GARDNER: CHARGE-PUMP PHASE-LOCK LOOPS

185 1
These quantities are interrelated by

where KO is the VCO gain' i radians/second/volt. n These expressions, plus e&) = e,+) - eo(s), lead to the loop. transfer functions

K/72 = W ,

(10)

, These functions apply for any 2. An important property of any PLL is the static phase error [6, ch. 41 or loop stress that arises from a frequency offse$-A u between the input signal and the free-running frequency of the VCO. Applying the final-value theorem, as in [6], the static phase error is found to be

The foregoing results were all obtained for the configuration of Fig. 2(b): the current switch with passive filter. Much the same expressions arise for each of the otherthree configurations. For an active filter, it is necessary to take the polarity reversal of the operational amplifier into account. For a voltage switch, the same equations as above occur if we let I, % Vp/R For Fig. 2(a)-voltage switch with passive filter-the resulting equations are approximate with the approximation being valid only if I u, I 4 V,.
111. SECOND-ORDER LOOP

where K is the loop gain, a,, the natural frequency and 5 is is the damping factor. Any two of the three parameters completelydefinethelinearized,time-averagedbehaviorof the PLL. Substituting (8) and (9) into (5) and (6) gives the transfer functions forthe second-order, charge-pumpPLL.They turn out to have exactly the same form as obtained for a conventional second-order PLL [6, ch. 21. Therefore, to the extentthatthe various approximations arevalid, the chargepump PLL has exactly the same small-scale behavior as conventional PLL's with the same values for the loopparameters. To explore further, we note that Z,(O) = 00 so that the static phase error, from (7), is zero. This desirable performance is achieved with a passive filter. To approach zero static phase error in a conventional PLL requires an active filter with large dc gain. Therefore, the charge pump permits zero static phase error (Type-I1 response)without the need for dcamplification. This effect arises because of the input open circuit during the N state and does not necessarily depend upon use of an active current switch. The same behavior is found in any of the four configurations of Fig. 2. Practical circuits will impose some shunt loading across the passive filter impedance. Denote the load as a resistor R,. The actual staticphase error, from (7), will be

e,

=---

2nAw

rad.

KoIpR,

Continuous-TimeApproximation
A large preponderance of applications utilize second-order PLL's. To obtain a zero-stabilized, second-order loop, consider a loop filter function

which is produced by a series connection of a resistor and a capacitor. To systematize the notation, define

Shunt loading is most likely to come from input impedance of the VCO control terminal or from the switch itself. Both impedances can be made extremely large. The VCO may be varactor-tuned, which implies near-infinite resistance, and the switch is typically a reverse-biased semiconductor. Some other variety of VCO could utilize a high-impedance buffer, if necessary to isolate a small-input impedance. When R, is very large, then leakage current may be more significant in producing phase error. The phase error O b resulting from a bias current I b injected continuously into the filter node can be calculated as

W, = (KoIP/2nC)" rad/s

K I R K=radls. 271
2 Notation throughout corresponds to that established in

[6],

Anactive filter, incorporating anideal op amp, will,of course, obviate any static phase error from VCO controlterminal loading effects. Although the variousresultsabovewere obtained specifically for the configuration of Fig. 2(b), they also apply for the other three configurations, as noted at the end of Section 11. However, the voltage switch with passive filter [Fig. 2(a)] exhibits a curious nonlinearity that may disqualify it from serious consideration in many applications. Denote the voltage

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VOL. COM-28, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 1980

on the capacitor as u,. Pump current is (up - u,)/(R, R2), UNIT where up = ' V p with the sign determined by the phase error / .' j C l R C . L E , direction. / \ / I \ For small u,, the pump current is influenced little by the /' capacitor charge so u, could be neglected in determining the I approximate behavior of the circuit. If u, should become large then it cannot be neglected. (A large u, would be required if the VCO needed a large v, to tune it to the proper ,A LOCUS ' ROOT frequency.Capacitor voltage u, is"large"if its magnitude STABILITY\\, , reaches a significant fraction of V p ;it can never exceed V p . ) LIMIT Let u, be some positive voltage. When up = + V p , then the Fig. 3. Root locus plot of second-order loop in z-plane. pump current is iP+= (V, - u,)/(Rl + R 2 ) while a negative up drives a pump current of ip- = -(Vp + u,)/(R1 + R 2 ) . These currents are unequal-substantially so if U, is large circle with center at z = (1 + 2n/oi72)- for values of enough-so loop gain about this u, operatingpoint will be larger for negativephase errors than for positive. It is unlikely thatany significant asymmetry can be tolerated in most applications.

,---.

--_-

Granularity Problems

Al of the foregoingisbased on averaged-response, timel continuous, constant-element operation of the loop. There are features arising from the actual discontinuous operation that need attention, even for narrow bandwidths. The primary features are loop stability and phase-detectorripple. In some sense, the loop operates on sampled basis and not a as a straightforward continuous-timecircuit. A sampled system almost always has more stability problems than arise in continuous-timesystems.In particular, ananalog, second-order PLL is unconditionallystable for any value of loop gain, but the sampled equivalent will go unstable if the gain is made too large. Prudent design requires that the stability limit beknown.3 A linearized, sarnpled\malysis is presented in Appendix A. The end result is the characteristic equation (denominator of the transfer function) of the sampledPLL in the z-plane, which has the form
D(z) = (z - 1)2

F,or larger K', the poles lie on the real axis; one pole migrates towards the center of the locus circle and the other migrates towards --. The loop is stable only if the poles lie inside the unit circle. Instability results where the outbound pole crosses the unit circle at z = -1, as noted in Fig. 2 . Normalized gain at the crossing point is

+ (z - 1) -

4n2 K'

where Kt = Kr2 may be regarded as a normalized loop gain, oi is the input frequency, and 72 = R2C is the time constant of the filter zero. Transient response for small phase errors and loop stability are studied by examining the locations of the zeros of D(z)the polesof the z-domain transfer function. The root locus shows pole locations in the z plane for varying K'; an example is sketched in Fig. 3. The shape of the locus is very similar to that of aconventionalsecond-orderloop in the s-plane [6, ch. 21. The two poles start at z = 1 for K' = 0 and move on a
3 Tal [ 91 has investigated sampled-stabilityof a phase-locked speedcontrol servo that uses a PFD and a simple lag Wter. His problem differs somewhat from that considered here and his method provides an alternate approach.

This value ofK' is the stability limit and is plotted in Fig. 4. Ripple is another granularity effect that demands attention. Upon each cycle of the PFD, the pump current I p is driven into the filter impedance Zp,which responds with an instantaneous voltage jump of Au, = I p R z . At the endof the charging interval (t = t p ) ,the pump current switches off and a voltage jump of equal magnitude occurs in the opposite direction. Frequency of the VCO follows the voltage steps so there will be frequency excursionsof A o o =KoIpR2 = 2nK radians/ second for each pump pulse. The phase excursion during the pump interval t p will be AO0 = 27rKI B e I/wi [using (l)] , so the phase jitter vanishes for 8 = 0. (A not-unexpected hap, pening since the pump pulses are supposed to vanish for Be =
0J

Some applications (e.g., bit synchronizers) may be'able to tolerate such frequency jitter, but others (eg., frequency synthesizers) may require much better spectral purity. A possibly more serious consequence of the jumps is 'the potential for overload of the VCO, even if the indicated ripple is allowable from a spectral-purity standpoint. Any real VCO has only a finite frequency range over which it can be tuned. If control voltages outside of this range are applied, the VCO frequency is unable to follow. (In fact, oscillations may cease or the circuit might even sustain damage.) We require that the frequency jumps remain within the allowable tuning range of the VCO under all conditions.

GARDNER: CHARGE-PUMP PHASE-LOCK LOOPS

1853

50

T" 1

Fig. 5.
Y
C

Filterfor third-order loop.

loop transfer function from (5) is found to be K

-. .
Fig. 4.
1

( )S ; ?( +)

10 20

50 1 0 0 200 500

wi7~

H(s) = ' s3r2 s 2 + K ( F ) s K(b - 1) - + b + y

where the continuous-operation, time-averaging assumption has been made. Simple addition of C3 across R 2 + l/sC ought to serve very well for the passive filter but is not likely to be satisfactory for the active filter. The operational amplifiers would be required to deliver step currents of I, on each cycle, which is likely to bebeyond the slew capabilities ofmost amplifiers. Rather than attempting to accommodate the current by brute force amplifiers, it is more conservative to prevent the current step from ever reaching the op amp, as in the circuits of Fig. 6 . The general characteristics of these circuits ought to be much the same as those for the simple passive circuit, but some fine details will differ. This paper treats only the passive-filter, current-switch circuit.

Stability and overload limits for second-order loop.

As an extreme instance, thefrequencyjump must not exceed the input frequency. A larger jump would imply that the VCO frequency was driven negative-a meaningless status. For this extreme condition, the overload bound is 2nK < wi or, in normalized form
K'

<w i ~ 2 / 2 ~ .

(15)

A multivibrator, operated near thecenter of its tuning range, mightbe able to approachthe excursionsimplied in (15). Most other oscillators willhave a much smallertuning rangeandthereforewillbe restricted to use in PLL's with much smaller values of . K As a comparison to the stability limit, the overload limit of Properties (15) has also been plotted in Fig. 4. It is apparent that overThe transfer function (17) has a denominator of third deload is the actual restriction on loop gain; overload sets in at a gree, so the system is a third-order PLL. In the open-loop lowervalueofgain than does instability for any practical transfer function, the additional pole is located at s = -b/r2, circuit. which is far away from the dominant, low-frequency poles for In all discussion of granularity effects it has been assumed large b . If C3 is small compared to C ( b %- I), then we should tacitlythat all transitions are present. If transitions canbe expect onlyhigh-frequency effects from the additional filmissing at random, as in bit-clock recovery applications, then tering. Low-frequency properties should be essentially the there may be a data-pattern-dependent jitter induced into the same as for the second-order loop. VCO phase. That problem is not treated in this paper. In particular, the steady-state responses will be the same as for the second-order loop. The static phase error caused by a IV. THIRD-ORDER LOOP frequency offset will bezeroand the phaselagcausedby a frequency ramp will be Oa = Cj/on2,,ch. 41 where GJ is the [6 Origination slope of the ramp. Although the loop is third order, it is only The frequencyjumpsinherent to the second-order loop Type 11. The s-plane root locus of (17) has beenstudied in [ 6 , ch. 81 usually cannot beaccepted and additional filtering is often included within the PLL in order to mitigate the ripple. The foranother application. Root loci are shown in Fig. 7 for simplest ripple filter isan additional capacitor C3 in parallel various selections of b . For large b and small-enough K' (the with the earlier RC impedance, as shown in Fig. 5. Defining normalized loop gain)the dominant poles are virtually unchanged from the locationsexpectedforthe second-order b = 1 + C/C3,we obtain loop. As K' becomes very large, the outward-bound real pole meets the extra pole coming in from - b / ~and the pair go ~ complex asymptotic to a vertical line at s = - 0 S ( b - 1 ) ~ The ~ . (16 ) loop could become seriously underdamped for large gain. As b is reduced, the breakaway point for the vertical asymptote approaches closer to the low frequency portion of the locus; if b < 9, the locus never returns to the real axis and is Retaining the previous definition (9) for K , the closed- underdamped for all values ofK'.

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If b < 1, then the loop is unstable for all K'. In the configurationofFig. 5 it isimpossible to have b < 1, but it is entirely possible in Fig. 6. (In terms of the component values, b is defined differently in Fig. 6 than in Fig. 5, but thetransfer function and root locus plots have the same form for both configurations.) This stability impairment caused by the third pole is calculated on the basis assumed of continuous-time operation. Time-discrete operation can be expected to cause even more impairment. To investigate stability of the third-order loop, an analysis similar to that given in the Appendix was performed. (The analysis is omitted here because of space constraints.) The criterion for stability-all poles inside the unit circle-is satisfied if
(b)

Fig. 6.

Jump suppression for active filters.

K T< ~

4(1

+ a)
b

where
40 -

(18)

a = exp
30 -

(-E)b

20 -

10-

Knowledge of the stability limit alone is not sufficient for gooddesign;someinsight into the transient responseisalso needed. To that end, the z-plane characteristic equation is

2 0-10-

-20-.

-30 -

where

-40

The zeros of D(z) are the z-plane poles; their location defines the response to transients. Fig. 8 shows the stabilitylimitsfor'several valuesof b . Given values for b and air2, any value of Kr2 below the curve yields a stable loop while any value abovethe curve isunstable. Because of the extra capacitor, control voltage u, describes a continuous, ramp-like, exponential function for each pump pulse, instead of the rectangular jump that was found for the second-order loop. The same analysis that provided the stability limit gives the ramp amplitude as

-5

-4

-3
072

-2

-1

(b) Fig. 7. Root locus plots for third-order, type I1 PLL.(a)Large scale. (b) Expanded Tick mark< show values for K' = KT2. (Taken from [ 6 ] .Reproduced by permission of publisher.)

as compared to I Awo I2 = 27rK for the second-order loop. Define 0 = I Awo 13// Awo 12, and assume b 1 Be I / W ~ T ~ < 1 (not necessarily true,but a commoncondition).Then the SuppreSsion of unwanted frequency excursion provided by the extra

GARDNER: CHARGE-PUMP PHASE-LOCK LOOPS

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1855

50

II

20
c m Y

10

2
1 I

10
972

100

Fig. 8.

Stability limits for third-order loop.

capacitor is

When the loop is tracking near equilibrium, I Be I is very small so the suppression afforded by C can be substantial. ,

V. TRANSIENT RESPONSE
The results in all of the preceding sections-the continuoustime approximation, the z-plane characteristic function, and upon an assumption of the stability limits-were based all small phase error. That assumption fails for large phase errors such as occur during acquisition of lock. An analysis was performed forlargephase errors for the second-order loop; the analysis is outlined in the Appendix. In essence, the method is to consider the loop state variables of phase error and frequency at the instant immediately before each pump pulse. These state variables are related by difference equations whichwere iterated numericallyon a programmable calculator. The resulting printout is a sequence of the state variables along with the times of occurrence. Two different displaysarepossible: frequency- orphaseerror versustime to show the familiar transient response, or frequency error versusphase error to produce a phase-plane portrait [ 101. Examples of both are shown below. The question to be addressedis the following. If bandwidth (orgain, , K ) isverysmall compared to the switching frequency mi, then we knowthat the continuous analysis providesan excellent approximation to the behaviorof the charge-pump loop and we canutilize the extensive information available from the study of conventional, analog PLLs. In many applications we want to be able to use a large bandwidth. Thereforewe ask, How small can oi/K be made before behavior departs significantly from that predicted by the continuous-time analysis? Severalexample calculations were performed in order to explore the question. A valueof K = 2, corresponding to = 0.707 in the continuous PLL, was chosen as representative of many applications. Referring to the overload curve of Fig. 4, it can beseen that the VCO is certain to overload unless

<

> 12.612 = 6.3. TO allowsomemargin on the limit, a valueof o J K = 10 was chosen for the example calculations. For practical VCOS that is probably still too small a ratio but it will illustrate the results very well. Transient phase error in response to a phase step of *6 rad andof afrequency step of + X radianspersecondwere calculated for the conditions of wi/K = 10 and 0 . The latter 0 corresponds to the continuous-time PLL. Transient curves are plotted in Figs. 9 and 10, respectively. It is apparent that, even for such a low frequency as compared to bandwidth, the response of the charge-pump loop is very close to thatof the classical, continuous loop. Asymmetry between positive and negativephase errors is evident for the charge-pump loop. (The classical loop, of course, has symmetric response with respect to error polarity.) This asymmetry arises fromthepolarity-asymmetricdependence of pulse duration upon phase error (see the Appendix) and dwindles aswi/K is made larger. The same program yields a phase-plane solution of the PLL. Example trajectories are shown in Fig. 11. Asymmetry is also apparent in ti display.Eachmarked hs poiit represents the state of the systemat thestarting instant of consecutive charge pulses. The points havebeen connected by straight lines, to aid in following the individual trajectories, butthe actual trajectory between two calculated points has not been determined and there is no reason to suppose that it would be linear. The shape of the trajectories may seem rather peculiar; the vertical sections do not occur on the A o = 0 axisasis expected from previous phase-plane plots [lo] . The discrepancy arises not from the charge-pump action, but from the choice of state variables. Here the variables are Be and A o = wi - Kou,, where is the free-running frequency of the VCO and u, is the voltage stored on the capacitor C in the loop filter. The usual phase-plane plot uses Be and be as the state variables. Proportional and integral elements enter into Be whereas only integral elements contribute to the frequency variable in Fig. 11. If equivalent state variables were defined, then simiiar,skewed trajectories wouldalso be obtained for the classical loop. It is clear that the loop converges towardsequilibrium without difficulty, at least for the trajectories examined. Attempts were made to examine trajectories with larger initial frequency errors. An overload phenomenon intervened: a phenomenonthatthe program was not designed to accommodate, so an error message was produced instead of a trajectory.Inasmuch as theloop was running veryclose to the nominal overload as deduced from Fig. 4, the program breakdown for small oi/K was not pursued further, on the Supposition that a practical loop would break down under even more restrictive conditions. Trajectories were also obtained for oi/K = 100. Much larger Aw/K values could be accommodated that condition for and the program breakdown was not encountered again. With large enough initial frequency error, the loop does not converge within the phase interval (-2n, 271) but slips one or more cycles before settling. The program was not designed to accommodate phase excursions beyond +2n, so no results are provided.
wir2 > 12.6, or, in other words, wi/K

Aw/K

-.t n

Fig. 11.

Phase-plane portrait; second-order loop. K72 = 2; wi/K = 10.

2 -2Fig. 10. Response to frequencystep. A w l K = * 2 ; K 7 2 = 2; second+ order loop. -wilK = -, + X wilK = 10.

(Thephase-plane port+ for anordinary phase detector is periodic in 277, but the PFD portrait is more complicated. One can consider that Fig. 11 is the central region of a phase APPENDIX portrait but the outer regions to either side of center each exDIFFERENCE-EQUATION ANALYSIS OF tend over only -27r to 0 or 0 to +27r. The PFD portrait is not CHARGE-PUMP PLL strictly periodic.) Calculations were performed only for the second-order Analysis of the charge-pump circuit is impededbythe loop, but the third-order loop resulting from the filter of Fig. switching of the pump current between the values -Ip, 0, and 5 is more likely to beemployed inreal applications. It is I p . Moreover, the switching times are complicated functions of possible to calculate the transient response of the third-order the relative, time-varying phases Oi(t) of the signal input and loop in much the sameway employed for second-orderby O o ( t ) of the VCO. However, during any one switch condition, taking account of three state variables. That has not yet been the circuit is a.linear, time-invariant network and is described accomplished.Moreover, state trajectories for a third-order by linear differential equations constant with coefficients. loop are three-dimensional and cannot bedisplayed readily on Given the initial conditions at the startof a switching interval, a two-dimensional sheet. it is straightforward to calculate the state variables at any time If the extra capacitor C3 is effective, the third-order loop within the interval. The final state variables at the end of one ought not suffer from VCO overload. Instead, stability limits interval become the initial conditions for the next interval. the allowable gain for a given switch frequency (as in Fig. 8). If we define the phase and frequency errors at the start of From Fig. 7, we see' that is it improbable that we would ever a current pulse as the discrete-time state variables, then it is take b significantlyless than about 10. If K' = 2, then the possible to write difference equations that describe a recursive stability limit for b = 10 from Fig. 8 is q / K * 7.5. To obtain sequence of the state. Theexact difference equations were some stability margin, a value of wi/K i excess of 15 to 20 iterated to obtain the transient responses of Section'V while n might be considered reasonable. In light of the results obtained discrete-time stability was examined for Sections and IV by I11 with the second-order loop seems fairto predict that response means of linearized difference equations. it of the third-order charge-pump loop will be very much the This Appendix derives the linearized difference equations same as that of the equivalent continuous-time loop. for the second-order PLL and shows an outline of the derivation of the exact difference equations of thesecond-order VI. CONCLUSIONS PLL, The process for the exact equations isshownascomThe conventional-wisdom rule-of-thumb has been that ments in parentheses following the corresponding portion of switching granularity effects can be neglected if the switching the linear-equations derivation. frequency exceeds 10 times the loop bandwidth. This paper Linearized equations were also obtained for the third-order

has shown that therule-of-thumb is not far wrong ifconsidered as an approximate outer limit beyond which troubles begin to appear. Somewhat more conservative design wouldbe prudent in most circumstances. The passive filter with current switching has been shownto have attractive properties. A balanced, fast, current-switch integrated circuit would very be helpful to the hardware designer. The second-order loop has switching-rate frequencyexcursions that are excessive for most applications. Any smoothing results in at least a third-order loop, although still Type 11. Root loci for the third-order loop are presented to aid design efforts. Transient response of practical charge-pump PLL's can be expected to be nea5ly the same as the response of the equivalent classical PLL.

GARDNER: CHARGE-PUMP PHASE-LOCK LOOPS

1857

loop, but the derivation is not shown here because of space limitations. Exact difference equations could be found for the third-order loop, but that problem not yetbeen attacked. has The notation and circuit configuration for the analysis are shown in Fig. 12. It is convenient to set the time origin to coincide with an instant of turn-on of the current switch. Observing that convention, we obtain the following equations that are valid for the entire fust cycle (i.e., until the next turn-on instant of the currentswitch). e,(t) = ei(o) + Wit
0 0( t ) = n

Fig. 12. Equivalent circuit of charge-pump PLL.

(A11
t
u,(T) d T

o + KO uc(t)

e o ( t ) = eo(o) + Q 0 t + K O
i p = I p s g n O,(O);
= 0;

0 <t <tp

tp < t < 27rjWi

These equations, (A9) and (AIO), are exact. (By substituting (A2) the exact solution for t p into (A9) and (AlO), the calculator program carries the statevariables numericallyup to tp.) (A31 Let t* be the time following t p at which the next edgefrom signal or VCO, as the case may be-activates the PFD and ('44) starts a new pump pulse. Charge on the capacitor remains constant fromt p to t*. Therefore, theVCO phase at t* is

ee = ei- eo
tp

(-45) (Ab) (A71

Substituting (A9) and (A10) into (A1 1 ) gives eo(t*) = eo(o) + n o t *
uxot*

I/ai

u,(t) = ipRZ+ u, ux(t)= -

:[

ip(T) d ~ .

(A81

+-iptpt* C

Suppose that the switching is initiated by an edge of the VCO waveform. Then -Ip is switched on so as to retard the VCO phase; also Oo(0) = 0, and Oi(0)= e,(O), which is a negative number. The input-signal edge that shuts off the current switch occurs when ei(t) = e i ( t p )= 0; in other words, when the input phase has advanced by e,(O) radians at a rate of ai radianslsecond. In this case, that time is exactly t p - = I Be I/ai S. Now suppose that the switch-on is initiated by an edge of input signal. Thepumpcurrent is + I p ; ei(0) = 0, Oo(0) = -O,(O), e,(O) is positive, andthe pump current remains on until the next edgeof the VCO. For the linearizedanalysis, that time is approximated by t,, = e,(O)/ai, the same expression as for the opposite polarity of phase error. (In actual fact, since uc is not constant during the pump interval, the frequency of the VCO changes during (0, t p + ) so a linear equation for t, is incorrect for positive phase error. In the nonlinearanalysis it was found that thecorrect charging interval is a solution of aquadraticequation involving the initial conditions at t = 0 andtheloopparameters.The quadratic solution is carried through in the numerical iteration of the nonlinear difference equations.) Define u,O = u,(O); uxp = ux(tp).Ordinary linear-network analysis methods yield

(A12)

This last equation is also exact. To pursue the linearized analysis, substitute i p t p 2 I p e e / a i from (A4) and (A6), and
approximate t" by 2nlwi to obtain

Except for the very last term, (A13) is linear in. e,(O). By dropping the last term-a valid approximation for small ( , 9 we obtaina linear equation for the VCOphase at time r* in terms of the initial phase and frequency and theloop parameters. Define A = ai -.aoand recall that 0, = Bi - Bo. By the n previous approximations, Oi advances by 27 in the time inter7 val (0, t*). With these substitutions, we obtain the linear difference equations

e&,)

= eo(o)

+ n o t p + Ko(uxotp+ i$2tp +'ptp2/2c).

('49)
and

(For positive Oe(0), setting Oo(tp) = 0 in (A9) gives the quadraticequation for theexact valueof t p + , asdescribed above.) Furthermore,

(All approximations are avoided in the calculator program.

1858

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMMUNICATIONS, VOL. COM-28, NO. 11: NOVEMBER 1980

Wit2 = 27 aresolved for r1 and t2. Thesmallerof these is 7 taken as the value for t*. Having obtained the correct values of t p and t*, the values for e&*) and Ao(t*) are calculated and the process repeats with these state variables as the new initial conditions. The program starts atspecified initial conditions and stops after arriving within a specified tolerance band about the zero state.) The linearized analysis continues by takingz-transforms [l 11 of (A14) and (A15). Treating the initial frequency error as a frequency stepgives the z-transformed equations

rived in the same manner for the third-order loop. The Volume of algebra is substantially greater than for thesecond-order loop so only the results are given in Section IV. Only linear approximations have been performed for the third-order loop; the exact equations havenot been attempted. REFERENCES
[I]

R. C. E. Thomas, Frequency comparator performs double duty.

EDN, pp.29-32,Nov. I , 1970. 1. Brown,Adigitalphaseandfrequency-sensitivedetector, Proc.IEEE, vol.59, p. 717,Apr.I97 I . Phase-Locked Data Loop Book, 2nd ed. Motorola, Aug. Inc., 1973. D. K. Morgan and G . Steudel, RCA The COS/MOS phaselocked-loop, Somerville, Application RCA, NJ, Note ICAN6101, Oct.1972. c . A. Sharpe, A 3-state phase detector can improve yournext PLL design, EDN, pp.55-59,Sept.1976. F. M. Gardner, PhaselockTechniques, 2nd ed. New York: Wiley, 1979. P. Lue, A multispeed digital .regenerative repeater for digital data transmission, in Conf. Rec.. 1979 Nut. Telecommun Conf., paper 14. I . J . A. Afonso, A. J. Quiterio, and D. S . Arantes. A phase-locked loop with digital frequency comparator for timing signal recovery, in Conf. Rec., 1979 Nut. Telecommun. Conf.. paper 14.4. J . Tal, Speed control by phase-locked servo systems-New IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron. Contr. possibilitiesandlimitations. 118-125, Feb.1977. Instrum.. vol.IECI-24.pp. A. J. Viterbi, Principles of CoherenrCommunication. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966, ch. 3. J. T. Tou, Digital and Sampled-Dura Control Systems. New York:McGraw-Hill,1959.

[2] J. [3] [4] [SI

[6l
[7]

Solving for Oe(z) gives

[8]

191

[IO]
[I I ]

Applying notation definitions from (9), the denominator of (A18) becomes D(z), as shown in (13). Analysis of pole locations follows by standard methodsl l ] . [ Linearized difference equations (three of them) werede-

*
Floyd M. Gardner (A54-SM58-F80),for raphy. see page 1106 of the August 1980 issue
a photographandbiogof this TRANSACTIONS.