
AN-937 (v.Int)
7.2 Chopping gate drives
Chopper circuits can maintain a gate drive signal for an indefinite period of time, have good noise immunity performance and,
with some additional circuitry, the isolated supply can be avoided.
The basic operating principle is shown in Figure 29. To turn on the MOSFET, a burst of high frequency is transmitted to the
secondary side. The MOSFET is turned off by interrupting the high frequency. The diode and the bipolar transistor form a
crowbar that rapidly discharges the gate.
In addition to providing the gate drive signal, the high frequency transformer is frequently used to power auxiliary circuitry, like
short-circuit protection, thus avoiding a dedicated supply.
8. DRIVE REQUIREMENTS AND SWITCHING CHARACTERISTICS OF
LOGIC LEVEL HEXFET
S
Many applications require a power MOSFET to be driven directly from 5 V logic circuitry. The on-resistance of standard power
MOSFETs is specified at 10 V gate drive, and are generally not suitable for direct interfacing to 5V logic unless an oversized
MOSFET is employed.
To Order
8
7
2
4
5
6
1
3
+12V
12VRTN
IN
C1
1
C2
1nF
T1
4.7K
R2
VCC
IN
ERR
VS
VSS
CS
8
7
6
5
U1
1
4
IR2121
HO
VB
2
3
R4 18K
R5 18K
+15V
G
C3
1
E
TRANSFORMER: CORE: 266CT125-3E2A, (OD=0.325", Ae=0.072cm,^2, A1=2135)
PRIMARY: 8T, AWG 28 SEC: 8T, AWG 28
Figure 28a.
Transformer-coupled MGD for operation from DC to 900 kHz
R1
560
R3
18K
15VRTN
IRF7509 OR IRF7309
Input: 2V/div.
Output: 25.ns/div.
Horiz.: 25.ns/div.
Figure 28b.
Waveforms associated with the
circuit of Figure 28a operated at 900 kHz
File: XP-900K.PLT
Input: 5V/div.
Output: 10V/div.
Reference 60Hz: 10V/div.
Horiz: 50ms/div.
Figure 28c. Waveforms associated with the circuit
of Figure 28a operated at 2.5 Hz
File: XP-2P5HZ.PLT
Index