by Joseph Spencer and Gabino Alonso

When designing a circuit in LTspice, you may wish to assess the impact of component
tolerances. For example, the gain error introduced by non-ideal resistors in an op amp circuit.
This article illustrates a method that reduces the number of simulations needed, and as a
result speeds your time to results.

LTSpice provides several ways to vary the value of a parameter. Some of these are:

.step param; A parameter sweep of a user-defined variable

gauss(x); A random number from Gaussian distribution with a sigma of x
flat(x); A random number between -x and x with uniform distribution
mc(x,y); A random number between x*(1+y) and x*(1-y) with uniform distribution.

These functions are very useful, especially if we want to look at results in terms of a
distribution. But if we only want to look at worst case conditions, they may not be the quickest
way to get a result. Using gauss(x), flat(x) and mc(x,y) for example, will require a simulation to
run for a statistically significant number of times. From there, a distribution can be looked at
and worst case values calculated in terms of standard deviations. However, for a worst case
analysis we would prefer not to use a distribution approach, instead the maximum deviation
from the nominal value of each component are used in the calculations.

Let’s say that we want to look at the worst-case impact of a R1 = 22.5kΩ resistor with a 1%
tolerance. In this case, we really only want to run the simulation with R1 = 22.5kΩ * (1 - 0.01)
and 22.5kΩ * (1 + 0.01). A third run with an ideal 22.5kΩ resistor would also be handy to have.

.step param R1 list 22.5k*(1-.01) 22.5k*(1+.01) 22.5k

If we were just varying one resistor value, the ‘.step param’ method would work very well. But
what if we have more? The classic difference amplifier has 4 resistors.
 Figure 1. Difference Amplifier Configuration (From the LT1997-3 datasheet)

If a discrete difference amplifier were to be designed, each of these would have some
tolerance (e.g. 1% or 5%).

For an example, let’s take the front page application shown in the LT1997-3 datasheet and
implement it in LTspice with a discrete LT6015 op-amp and some non-ideal resistors.

Figure 2. LT1997-3 Front Page Application Example

 Figure 3. LT6015 Difference Amplifier with Non-Ideal Resistors

Notice the values of resistors R1, R2, R3 and R4 are replaced by a function call
wc(nominalvalue, tolerance, index) which is defined in the simulation by a .func statement:

.func wc(nom,tol,index) if(run==numruns,nom,if(binary(run,index),nom*(1+tol),nom*(1-

tol)))

This function in conjunction with the binary(run, index) function below vary the parameter for
each component between its maximum value and minimum values and for the last run the
nominal value.

.func binary(run,index) floor(run/(2**index))-2*floor(run/(2**(index+1)))

The binary function toggles each index'ed componment in the simulation so that all possible
combination of nom*(1+tol) and nom*(1-tol) are simulated. Note that the index of components
should start with 0. The following table highlights the operation of the binary() function with
results to each index and run, where 1 represents nom*(1+tol) and 0 represents nom*(1-tol).

Run 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Index 0
0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
(R4)

Index 1
0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1
(R1)

Index 2
0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1
(R2)
 Index 3
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
(R3)

The number of runs is determined buy 2N +1, where N equals the number of indexed
components, to cover all the max and min combinations of the device plus the nominal. In our
case we need 17 simulations run and we can define this using the .step command and the
.param statments:

.step param run 0 16 1

.param numruns=16

Lastly, we need to define the tola and tolb for the simulation via .param statments:

.param tola=.01
.param tolb=.05

You can find more information about the .func, .step, and .param statments in the help (F1)
and under the .param section details about the if(x,y,z) and floor(x) functions.

If the transient analysis simulation is run, see WorstCase_LT6015.asc file, we can observe our
results. For a 250mA test current, we expect the Vout net to settle to 250mV. But now with our
wc() function, we get a spread from 235mV to 265mV.

Figure 4. Difference Amplifier Transient Analysis

At this point we could zoom in and look at the peak to peak spread. But let’s take a lesson
from another LTspice blog:

Plotting a Parameter Against Something Other Than Time (e.g. Resistance)

This blog covers how to run a simulation several times and plot a parameter against
something other than time. In this case, we want to plot the V(out) vs. simulation run index.
See WorstCase_LT6015_meas.asc file.

In this simulation we have add a .meas statment to calculated the average voltage of the
output.

.meas VoutAvg avg V(out)

To plot the V(out) vs. run parameter we can view the SPICE Error Log (Ctrl-L), right click and
select Plot .step’ed .meas data.

Figure 5. Spice Error Log Interface

The plot results of our .step'ed .meas data.

 Figure 6. Output Voltage vs. Simulation Run

The trace hows us that the results vary from a maximum worse case of 265mV (run 9) to a
minimum worse case of 235mV (run 6) or roughly a ±6% error. This makes some intuitive
sense since we had both 1% and 5% resistors in this example. The last run (16) shows the
ideal result (250mV) which is ideal resistors. Recall LTspice graphs the results from the .meas
statment as a piece wise linear graph.

Another faster approach to this particular circuit is to use the .op simulation (instead of the
.trans) to perform a DC operating point solution which will plot the results of our stepped.meas
data directly.

When designing a difference amplifier not only is the appropriate op-amp needed, but equally
as important are the matching of the resistors. The following references do an excellent job of
explaining this topic (and associated math) in detail:

LT5400 (Quad Matched Resistor Network) Datasheet

Design Note DN1023
Design Note DN502

However, you can neither achieve good Common Mode Rejection Ratio (CMRR) or Gain Error
without appropriately matched resistors.

Linear Technology, now part of Analog Devices, has a number of precision amplifier products
which also include matched resistors. A recently released example of this is the LT1997-3 -
Precision, Wide Voltage Range Gain Selectable Amplifier. Two key specifications are:

91dB Minimum DC CMRR (Gain = 1)

 0.006% (60ppm) Maximum Gain Error (Gain = 1)

These specifications are really quite excellent. According to DN1023, CMRR due only to 1%
resistors (with an ideal op-amp) will limit your CMRR to 34dB. And of course, the gain error is
orders of magnitude worse than what the LT1997-3 achieves.

Using the method outlined above, a simple worst-case analysis can be run at the min/max
value of several parameters. In this example we looked at the impact of resistor tolerances in a
classical difference amplifier, and the value of the matched resistors in the LT1997-3 are
illustrated.

Monte Carlo and Worst-Case Circuit Analysis using LTSpice

Joseph Spencer has been a field applications engineer with Linear Technology
(now part of Analog Devices) since 2013. Joseph supports customers in Utah
©1995 - 2021 Analog Devices, Inc. All Rights Reserved