MTD5N25E
4
Motorola TMOS Power MOSFET Transistor Device Data
POWER MOSFET SWITCHING
Switching behavior is most easily modeled and predicted by
recognizing that the power MOSFET is charge controlled. The
lengths of various switching intervals (
t) are determined by
how fast the FET input capacitance can be charged by current
from the generator.
The published capacitance data is difficult to use for calculat-
ing rise and fall because drain–gate capacitance varies greatly
with applied voltage. Accordingly, gate charge data is used. In
most cases, a satisfactory estimate of average input current
(IG(AV)) can be made from a rudimentary analysis of the drive
circuit so that
t = Q/IG(AV)
During the rise and fall time interval when switching a resistive
load, VGS remains virtually constant at a level known as the
plateau voltage, VSGP. Therefore, rise and fall times may be
approximated by the following:
tr = Q2 x RG/(VGG – VGSP)
tf = Q2 x RG/VGSP
where
VGG = the gate drive voltage, which varies from zero to VGG
RG = the gate drive resistance
and Q2 and VGSP are read from the gate charge curve.
During the turn–on and turn–off delay times, gate current is not
constant. The simplest calculation uses appropriate values
from the capacitance curves in a standard equation for volt-
age change in an RC network. The equations are:
td(on) = RG Ciss In [VGG/(VGG – VGSP)]
td(off) = RG Ciss In (VGG/VGSP)
The capacitance (Ciss) is read from the capacitance curve at a
voltage corresponding to the off–state condition when calculat-
ing td(on) and is read at a voltage corresponding to the on–state
when calculating td(off).
At high switching speeds, parasitic circuit elements
complicate the analysis. The inductance of the MOSFET
source lead, inside the package and in the circuit wiring which
is common to both the drain and gate current paths, produces
a voltage at the source which reduces the gate drive current.
The voltage is determined by Ldi/dt, but since di/dt is a function
of drain current, the mathematical solution is complex. The
MOSFET output capacitance also complicates the mathemat-
ics. And finally, MOSFETs have finite internal gate resistance
which effectively adds to the resistance of the driving source,
but the internal resistance is difficult to measure and,
consequently, is not specified.
The resistive switching time variation versus gate
resistance (Figure 9) shows how typical switching perform-
ance is affected by the parasitic circuit elements. If the para-
sitics were not present, the slope of the curves would
maintain a value of unity regardless of the switching speed.
The circuit used to obtain the data is constructed to minimize
common inductance in the drain and gate circuit loops and is
believed readily achievable with board mounted components.
Most power electronic loads are inductive; the data in the
figure is taken with a resistive load, which approximates an
optimally snubbed inductive load. Power MOSFETs may be
safely operated into an inductive load; however, snubbing
reduces switching losses.
Figure 7. Capacitance Variation
10
0
10
15
20
25
GATE–TO–SOURCE OR DRAIN–TO–SOURCE VOLTAGE (VOLTS)
C,
CAP
ACIT
ANCE
(pF)
1000
400
200
0
VGS
VDS
TJ = 25°C
VDS = 0 V
VGS = 0 V
800
600
5
Ciss
Coss
Ciss
Crss