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US 11,388,784 B2Granted
Transistor with integrated active protection
AssigneeInfineon Technologies AG
InventorsPeter Bredemeier, Jorge Cerezo, Thomas Kimmer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In accordance with an embodiment, a method of operating a transistor includes: switching the transistor on and off based on a control signal; monitoring a voltage of a collector node of the transistor; detecting whether the voltage of the collector node of the transistor is above a first threshold; and after detecting the voltage of the collector node of the transistor above the first threshold, regulating a voltage across a load path of the transistor to a first target voltage.
Claims20
An integrated circuit comprising:
- an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT);
- a temperature sensor;
- and
- a protecting driver comprising
- a gate driver selectively coupled to a gate of the IGBT,
- a current limiter circuit coupled to the gate driver, and
- an overvoltage protection circuit, the overvoltage protection circuit comprising a regulation circuit selectively coupled to the gate of the IGBT and configured to regulate a voltage of a collector node of the IGBT to a target collector voltage, wherein
- the regulation circuit is configured to operate in a closed-loop feedback configuration, and
- the overvoltage protection circuit is configured to disconnect the gate driver from the gate of the IGBT and to connect an output of the regulation circuit to the gate of the IGBT upon detection of an overvoltage condition across a load path of the IGBT.
6 more elements
An integrated circuit comprising:
- an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT);
- a temperature sensor;
- and
- a protecting driver comprising
- a gate driver coupled to a gate of the IGBT,
- a current limiter circuit coupled to the gate driver, and
- an overvoltage protection circuit coupled to the gate of the IGBT, the overvoltage protection circuit comprising a regulation circuit configured to regulate a voltage of a collector node of the IGBT to a target collector voltage upon detection of an overvoltage condition, wherein the regulation circuit has a closed-loop configuration, wherein the overvoltage protection circuit comprises:
- a first comparator having a first input coupled to a first reference voltage associated with the overvoltage condition and a second input coupled to the collector node of the IGBT;
- a first switch coupled between an output of the gate driver and the gate of the IGBT;
- and
- a second switch coupled between the regulation circuit and the gate of the IGBT, wherein
- the first switch is configured to open when an output of the first comparator is in a first state
- the second switch is configured to close when the output of the first comparator is in the first state, and
- the regulation circuit is coupled between the collector node of the IGBT and the gate of the IGBT.
11 more elements
An integrated circuit comprising:
- a transistor;
- and
- a protecting driver comprising
- a driver circuit selectively coupled to a control node of the transistor, and
- an overvoltage protection circuit comprising a regulation circuit selectively coupled to the control node of the transistor and configured to regulate a voltage of an output node of the transistor to a target collector voltage, wherein
- the regulation circuit is configured to operate in a closed-loop feedback configuration, and
- the overvoltage protection circuit is configured to disconnect the driver circuit from the control node of the transistor and to connect an output of the regulation circuit to the control node of the transistor upon detection of an overvoltage condition across a load path of the transistor.
4 more elements
An integrated circuit comprising:
- a voltage monitoring circuit having an input configured to be coupled to a collector of an IGBT;
- a gate driver configured to be coupled to a gate of the IGBT;
- and
- a closed-loop feedback regulation circuit having an input configured to be coupled to the collector of the IGBT and an output configured to be coupled to the gate of the IGBT, wherein the closed-loop feedback regulation circuit is configured to, when the voltage monitoring circuit detects that the voltage of the collector of the IGBT exceeds a predetermined voltage:
- disconnect the gate driver from the gate of the IGBT,
- connect the output of the closed-loop feedback regulation circuit to the IGBT, and
- regulate a voltage of the collector of the IGBT.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.