EE453: Lecture 02: S/H devices Fall 2014

2 Sample and Hold circuits (S/H)

The sample-and-hold circuit is a popular circuit in the context of Digital control system as it include
both sampling and zero-order hold reconstruction. The simplified circuit is shown below

Mode of operation The S/H operates at two modes:

• Track (sample) mode: when the switch is closed, the output tracks the input and capacitor
signals
vo (t) = vi (t)

• Hold mode: when the switch is opened at t0 , the capacitor has no discharge route, thus,
the output is held constant at its value at t0

vo (t) = vo (t0 ) = vc (t0 )

The S/H is usually driven by a input (clock or control) signal xc (t) which dictates the sampling
instants and the hold instants. The signal is in a form of PWM (or square wave). It is shown
below:
xc (t)
sampling instant hold instant

| {z }| {z } T 2T 4T 6T t
τs τh

1. The sampling( tracking) order is given at the every instant kT , it is represented by the rising
edges of the wave.

2. The tracking duration is τs , during which the output tracks the input.

3. The hold order is given at the every instant kT + τs , it is represented by the falling edges of
the wave.

4. The hold duration is τh , during which the output is held constant at the input signal value
at kT + τs .

5. τs + τh = T

The input vi (t) and output vo (t) signals of S/H are shown below for the previous clock signal:

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EE453: Lecture 02: S/H devices Fall 2014

vi (t)

2.1 Limit cases

Case 01: Very small tracking duration If τs → 0, then The output is essentially the input
approximated by a zero-order hold output. The output is shown below:

The S/H becomes a impulse-train sampler followed by a zero-order hold.

T
vi∗ (t)
vi (t) ZOH vo (t)

The S/H is used before the ADC’s digitization step to provide a stable input during
this conversion.

Case 02: No hold capacitor If Ch → 0, then at the hold instants, the output goes to zero,
vo (t) = 0. The output is shown below:

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EE453: Lecture 02: S/H devices Fall 2014

The S/H becomes a pulse train sampler.

Pulse-train sampling
The Impulse-train sampling is an ideal process, since the impulse function is not physically realizable
and its amplitude is infinite
A more practical sampling methods can be approximated by pulse-train sampler
Given a CT signal x(t):

A pulse-train pτ (t) is a periodic signal that consists of train of pulses T seconds apart, each pulse
has magnitude 1 and width 2τ , Where τ <<< T .

pτ (t)

−τ τ
−2T −T T 2T 3T 4T 5T 6T 7T t

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EE453: Lecture 02: S/H devices Fall 2014

The pulse-train sampling is the the modulation of the analog signal x(t) by p(t):

pulse-train sampling (modulation)

pτ (t)

x(t) x∗p (t)

The result is the pulse (train) sampled signal x∗p (t):

x∗p (t) = x(t)p(t)

Question: Is x∗p (t) a complete representation of x(t)? In order to answer this question we
shall examine this sampling from the frequency response perspective:
X(jω)

−2ωs −ωs −ωM 0 ωM ωs 2ωs ω

1
Xp∗ (jω) = X(jω) ∗ Pτ (jω)
2π
Since pt (t) is a periodic signal:
X 2π
pτ (t) = ak ejωs kt ωs =
T

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EE453: Lecture 02: S/H devices Fall 2014

X
Pτ (jω) = 2πak δ(j(ω − kωs ))
Z τa
1 −1 −jkωs t +τ sin(kωs τ )
ak = e−jkωs t dt = e |−τ =
T −τa jkT ωs πk
∞
X sin(kωs τ )
Pτ (jω) = 2 δ(j(ω − kωs ))
k
k=−∞

Pτ (jω)
2ωsτ

... ...
−ωs 0 ωs 2ωs ω

∞
X
1 sin(kωs τ )
Xp∗ (jω) = X(jω) ∗ Pτ (jω) = X(j(ω − kωs ))
2π πk
k=−∞

Xp∗ (jω)
2τ
T

... ...
−ωs −ωM 0 ωM ωs 2ωs ω

Remarks

1. The spectrum of x∗ (t) is nothing more than the superposition of shifted and scaled replicas
of X(jω).

2. X ∗ (jω) is periodic with respect to ωs

sin(kωs τa )
3. the scaling is variable to πk

Conclusion If x(t) is a band-limited (with ωM ), then x(t) is still uniquely determined by its
samples x(kT ) if:
ωs > 2ωM
The Shannon sampling theorem is still applicable to pulse-train sampling and x(t) can be
reconstructed by the Ideal Shannon filter