DESIGN TIPS

Gate Drive Design Tips

In this article, we return to basics of converter design—how to turn on and off the power FET in a
modern dc-dc power supply. There have been many articles and application notes on this topic in the
past, and the reader is encouraged to read these for more background information [1].

By Dr. Ray Ridley, Ridley Engineering

Direct Drive from the PWM There are silicon solutions to this
Controller problem. I would use these for low
Most modern control chips incorpo- voltage applications, but not for off-line
rate an output driver stage, usually con- circuits. High-side integrated driv-
sisting of a totem-pole arrangement of ers remove too much control from the
two transistors. This output can be used
to directly drive the gate of a power FET,
as shown in Fig 1.

The direct connection can be used

when the control circuit shares the same
ground reference as the power circuit,
and power levels are relatively low.

Data sheets show that several amps of the resistor in half. For a DCM fly-
can be provided from the PWM control- back, it is surprising how slowly you can
Figure 1: The power FET is driven
ler output, more than enough to drive turn on the device without significant
directly from the output of the PWM
low-power devices. However, a FET switching loss.
controller.
input is a large capacitance, and it’s
usually not a good idea to try and use Turn off needs to be faster to provide
the full available current. It can lead to rapid shut down during overcurrent
increased EMI due to rapid turn-on and conditions. Experiment with different
turn-off, excessive reverse recovery loss values, rather than simply using the val-
in rectifiers, and noise issues inside the ues shown in the application notes. For
PWM controller itself. Clock jitter, and more information on how fast you have
sporadic interruptions in the normal to control the FET, refer to [3].
operations can occur. [2].
Dedicated Gate Drivers
It’s a good idea to limit the current As power levels rise, you will find the
from the PWM controller with the net- values of the gate resistors need to Figure 2: Slow-down resistors are
work shown in Fig. 2. Two resistors are decrease to minimize switching loss. used to control the turn-on and
used—one to control the turn-on time, For higher power circuits, it is common turn-off time of the power FET. We
and one to control the turn-off time. A industry practice to use a high-current usually turn the device off faster than
diode is used to separate the two func- driver chip. This prevents interference it is turned on in order to achieve fast
tions, but can be omitted in some cases with the PWM controller, and also al- current protection.
if the timing is less critical. lows better layout of the PCB. There
are many good drivers on the market,
We usually turn on the FET slowly or you can even build your own high-
when running a low-power converter. current totem-pole driver if you want to
Don’t be afraid to experiment with raise performance while reducing costs.
the value of the resistor Ron. I’ve used
values as low as 1 ohm, and as high as Isolated Gate Drives Figure 3: For larger power devices,
1 kohm in designs. My rule of design is At higher power levels, we start to use and higher power switching, it’s a
to increase the resistor while monitor- topologies such as the two-switch for- good idea to use separate gate drive
ing the switching waveforms and power ward converter, half-bridge converter, or circuits to switch the devices rapidly.
dissipation in the FET. If the temperature full-bridge converter. All of these topolo- Gate resistors are still used, but are
starts to rise significantly, cut the value gies require a floating switch to be driven. not shown here.

14 Power Systems Design Europe December 2006

 DESIGN TIPS

former (usually a toroid for high perfor- tor is connected across the gate drive
mance.) The secondary is connected transformer for an indefinite period. This
directly to the gate of the FET, and any can lead to saturation of the transformer,
slow-down resistors should be placed in as shown in Fig. 6b. When the trans-
the primary of the transformer. Note the former saturates, the secondary is a
use of zeners on the gate for transient short circuit, and the secondary capaci-
protection. Catch diodes are needed at tor can turn on the FET. The saturation
the output of the driver, and should not can be avoided with a gapped core, and
be omitted even if initial tests show that smaller value of capacitor, but this will
there is no problem with the reactive increase the reactive current needed
current in the transformer. from the gate driver, and may produce
other problems.
The circuit of Fig. 4 provides a sec-
ondary gate waveform with a negative Isolated Gate Drives
value when the FET is off. This greatly for the Bridge Converters
enhances common-mode noise im- The half- and full-bridge converters
munity, crucial for a bridge circuit. are isolated applications that need a
However, the negative waveform also very rugged drive scheme. During the
has the disadvantage of reducing the switch off time, the opposite side of the
voltage applied when the switch is on. bridge will turn on, impressing a high
At short duty cycles, the positive pulse common-mode voltage to the off device.
Figure 4: The most rugged scheme
is largest. At a 50% duty cycle, half the
for isolated drives uses a gate drive
available gate voltage is lost. At large
transformer as shown. Catch diodes
duty cycles, there may not be enough
are needed for reactive current drives,
voltage to properly turn the FET on.
and a dc blocking capacitor prevent
The transformer-coupled circuit is most
saturation of the transformer. The
effectively used with duty cycles from
capacitor causes a level shift in the
0-50%. Fortunately, this is exactly what
output drive voltage, and this varies
is needed for the forward, full- and half-
with duty cycle.
bridge converters.

Notice in Fig. 5 that the dc coupling

capacitor can give rise to a low-frequen-
cy ringing superimposed on the gate
drive waveform. The usual solution to
this is to use a large value of capacitor
which lowers the Q of the ringing wave-
form. Make sure you test all transient
conditions, especially start up when the
capacitor is initially discharged.
Figure 6: This dc-restorer circuit has
DC-Restorer Circuit – Watch Out! been suggested for many years for
Occasionally, you may run into a high- circuits that require an isolated drive
Figure 5: The dc coupling capacitor voltage circuit that needs an isolated in excess of 50% duty cycle. This
can ring with the magnetizing induc- gate drive close to 100%. In the past, circuit can very often lead to failure
tance of the gate drive transformer, the circuit of Fig. 6 has been recom- when the power supply is turned
usually during start-up and transients. mended for this application. off, and is not recommended.
This ringing should be properly
damped to ensure safe operation. A diode and capacitor on the sec-
ondary restore the dc value of the gate
designer, and do not provide the same drive, and allow the gate to be driven
level of protection, isolation, immunity to duty cycles of up to 90% or more.
from transients, or common-mode noise However, there is a serious flaw in this
rejection as a well-designed and imple- circuit, and it is not recommended for
mented gate drive transformer. use without very careful analysis.

Fig. 4 shows the most rugged way The circuit works well during steady-
to achieve a floating drive. The output state operation (a gate load resistor is Figure 7: Two separate gate drive
of the drive chip couples through a dc- recommended), but when the PWM con- transformers are recommended for
blocking capacitor to a small trans- troller shuts off, the dc blocking capaci- the half-bridge converter.

16 Power Systems Design Europe December 2006

 DESIGN TIPS

bipolar drive gate circuit can be used

reliably. The only caveat is to be wary
of the shut-down condition where ring-
ing waveforms can turn on a device—
there is no negative drive under this
condition.

Summary
Gate drive circuits are a crucial part
of design. Make sure you use the right
scheme, and do not blindly copy an
application note. Gate drive transform-
ers add a level of ruggedness to your
design that cannot be achieved with
silicon solutions. If you are designing at
high power levels, they are an essen-
tial element. While you need to think
through all the components in a gate
drive, be careful not to overcomplicate
Figure 8: The full bridge converter also uses two transformers for rugged de- the design. Additional active elements
sign. Two FETs are driven from two separate secondaries of each gate drive to supposedly speed up the device
transformer. switching do not usually offer improve-
ments in overall performance, but
they do introduce new potential failure
mechanisms. Keep your gate circuits
as simple as possible.

Additional Reading
[1] “Design and Application Guide for
High Speed MOSFET Gate Drive Cir-
cuits”, Lazslo Balogh, Texas Instruments
Application Note.
[2] “Six Reasons for Power Supply
Instability”, Ray Ridley, www.switching-
powermagazine.com
[3] “Power Supply Stress Testing”, Ray
Ridley, www.switchingpowermagazine.
com

www.ridleyengineering.com
Figure 9: The phase-shifted full bridge uses a bi-directional transformer
on each leg, Note the polarity of the secondaries.

Fig. 7 shows the recommended the gate circuit should be thoroughly

scheme for a half-bridge converter. Two tested during start up transients where
gate drive transformers should be used. the highest peak currents are seen,
Do not try to use just one transformer and the negative drive of the gate is the
with a tri-state operation, which may be smallest.
presented as a technique in some ap-
plication notes. The phase-shifted bridge in Fig. 9
also has two gate drive transformers,
The full-bridge converter, shown but notice the different arrangement.
in Fig. 8, also needs two gate-drive Each side of the bridge operates at a
transformers. Dual secondaries on each fixed 50% duty cycle, allowing the use
transformer are used to drive the pair of of single gate drive transformer with
FETs on the diagonally-opposite legs of dual secondaries of opposite polarities.
the bridge. For both types of bridges, This is one of the few circuits where the

18 Power Systems Design Europe December 2006