This paper presents a design-oriented analytical approach for predicting fast-scale instability in power electronics converters under voltage-mode control strategy. This approach is based on the use of the ripple amplitude of the feedback control voltage as an index for predicting subharmonic oscillations in these systems. First, the work revisits the stability analysis technique based on the nonlinear discrete-time model, demonstrating that the ripple amplitude can be included within the expression of the Jacobian matrix of this model, hence giving a mathematical support to extend the ripple index to more complex topologies. A simple but representative buck converter under voltage-mode control is used to illustrate the approach. Using the ripple-based index, closed-form expressions of stability boundaries are derived. Unlike other available results obtained from existing methods, the stability boundary, in this work is expressed analytically in terms of both power stage and controller design parameters. Moreover, one can determine how these parameters are involved in the closed form expressions and, furthermore, how each parameter affects the stability of the system. The approach is validated by numerical simulations from the state equations and also experimentally within a wide range of the design parameter space.

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