Asymmetric common source inductances to reduce turn-off overvoltage in MOSFETs
AssigneeSemiconductor Components Industries, LLC
InventorsJaume Roig-Guitart, Alexis Anselmo Gomez, Juan Ramon Garcia-Mere
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A circuit includes a metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) having a gate, a source, and a drain. The circuit further includes a first inductor and a second inductor. The first inductor has a small inductance value that is less than a larger inductance value of the second inductor. The circuit further includes a switch configured to include the first inductor in a current path shared by a gate loop and a source loop of the MOSFET when the MOSFET is turning on, and to include the second inductor in the current path shared by the gate loop and the source loop when the MOSFET is turning off.
Claims17
A circuit comprising:
- a metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) including a gate, a source, and a drain, the gate being controlled by a gate drive signal;
- a first inductor, a second inductor, and a current-limiting element disposed in series in a source-drain current path and shared with a gate driver loop of the MOSFET;
- and
- a switch configured to close such that a gate loop current flows through the first inductor and bypasses the second inductor and the current-limiting element when the MOSFET is turning on, the switch being controlled by the gate drive signal.
A method comprising:
- disposing a first inductor, a second inductor, a current-limiting element in series in a source-drain current path shared with a gate driver loop associated of a MOSFET;
- disposing a switch configured to close such that a gate loop current flows through the first inductor and bypasses the second inductor and the current-limiting element, the switch being controlled by a gate drive signal for the MOSFET;
- and
- switching a gate loop current to flow through the first inductor and bypass the second inductor when the MOSFET is turning on.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.