Abstract
Adding passive components in a conventional IGBT gate driver is a simple method to reduce transient current/voltage spikes during switching, but the extra devices and power loss make them less attractive. Alternatively, active gate drivers can improve the switching behavior, but are limited to specific devices and applications from the increased complexity of functions and feedback topology. This article reports a simple design for a general purpose gate driver methodology to reduce the peak reverse recovery current and over-voltage. The proposed topology was verified using a foundry 0.25- $\mu \text{m}$ BCD technology and experimental testing Remarkable improvements of crucial current overshoot during turn-on, voltage overshoot during turn-off, and the associated switching loss are demonstrated using novel dual-phase turn-on and turn-off gate controls.
Highlights
insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) [1] have been widely used in power electronics, because of their high current/voltage capabilities and ease of driving
The gate driver plays a critical role in coupling the logic signals generated by the micro-controller to the power switches such as IGBTs
DUAL-PHASE GATE CONTROL TECHNIQUE Due to the induced Vpk and the anti-parallel free-wheeling diode Irr, the switching trajectory of an IGBT may extend beyond its safe operating area (SOA) under fast switching, which causes damage to the device, and accompanies with extra energy loss and electromagnetic interference (EMI)
Summary
Ts [1] have been widely used in power electronics, because of their high current/voltage capabilities and ease of driving. The main design issues for the IGBT gate driver include minimizing the switching loss, controlling the collector current slope di/dt and the collector-emitter voltage slope dv/dt, and decreasing the peak reverse recovery current and over-voltage stresses during turn-on and turn-off periods. Issues like the slow response speed, stability, and additional power consumption lead to complex design requirements for different IGBTs and various applications, which greatly limits their usage. To reduce the vital switching stress, it is necessary to limit the switching speed of an IGBT at the proper instant, and to suppress over-current during turn-on and over-voltage during turn-off. A gate driver with dual-phase turn-on and turn-off features is proposed and realized in an 0.25-μm BCD chip, and further validated using an inductive load switching test platform. The current overshoot can be expressed as [15], [16]
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