Protecting a power inverter by sensing a phase node voltage

A half-bridge gate driver, comprising:

• a low-side output terminal configured to be coupled to a control terminal of a low-side transistor of a half-bridge and configured to output a low-side output signal in order to drive the low-side transistor between respective switching states;
• a high-side output terminal configured to be coupled to a control terminal of a high-side transistor of the half-bridge and configured to output a high-side output signal in order to drive the high-side transistor between respective switching states;
• a phase node terminal configured to be coupled to a phase node to which the high-side transistor and the low-side transistor are coupled, wherein the phase node terminal is configured to be connected to a high-side supply potential by the high-side transistor if the high-side transistor is turned on, and wherein the phase node terminal is configured to be connected to a low-side supply potential by the low-side transistor if the low-side transistor is turned on;
• an inverter comprising an inverter input, an inverter output, a first supply terminal configured to receive a floating supply voltage, and a second supply terminal configured to receive a floating reference voltage,
• wherein the inverter input is coupled to the high-side output terminal and configured to receive the high-side output signal as an input signal,
• wherein the second supply terminal is coupled to the phase node terminal and is configured to receive a phase voltage at the phase node terminal as the floating reference voltage,
• wherein the inverter is configured to generate an inverter output signal at the inverter output based on the input signal, the floating supply voltage, and the floating reference voltage;
• a diode comprising an anode and a cathode, wherein the cathode is coupled to the inverter output for receiving the inverter output signal from the inverter output;
• and
• a comparator comprising a first input terminal coupled to the anode of the diode for receiving a measurement value representative of the inverter output signal, a second input terminal coupled to a threshold source for receiving a threshold, and an output terminal configured to output a comparison result indicating whether the measurement value satisfies the threshold.