Apparatus for measuring a gate leakage current of a transistor
AssigneeCity University of Hong Kong
InventorsShu Hung Henry Chung, Ho Tin Tang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus for measuring a gate leakage current of a MOSFET. The apparatus includes a current mirror adapted to be connected to a gate of a MOSFET, a gate driver adapted to generate a driving signal for the MOSFET, and a sensing resistor connected to the current mirror. An input current path of the current mirror is adapted to receive a gate leakage current of the MOSFET. The current mirror provides a high sensitivity of the measurement because the voltage across the current mirror is nearly constant, which therefore caters for different situations no matter if the gate leakage current is high or low.
Claims12
An apparatus for measuring a gate leakage current of a MOSFET, comprising:
- a) a current mirror adapted to be connected to a gate of the MOSFET;
- an input current path of the current mirror adapted to receive the gate leakage current of the MOSFET;
- b) a gate driver adapted to generate a driving signal for the MOSFET;
- c) a sensing resistor connected to the current mirror;
- the sensing resistor being located on an output current path of the current mirror;
- and
- d) d) a bypass switch connected in parallel to the current mirror;
- the bypass switch adapted to bypass the current mirror during a turn-on process of the MOSFET.
An apparatus for measuring a gate leakage current of a MOSFET, comprising:
- a) a current mirror adapted to be connected to a gate of a MOSFET;
- an input current path of the current mirror adapted to receive a gate leakage current of the MOSFET;
- the current mirror comprising a first transistor and a second transistor having their base connected together;
- a collector of the first transistor adapted to be connected to the gate of the MOSFET;
- a collector of the second transistor connected to the sensing resistor;
- b) a gate driver adapted to generate a driving signal for the MOSFET;
- c) a sensing resistor connected to the current mirror;
- the sensing resistor being located on an output current path of the current mirror;
- and
- d) a discharging circuit connected to the current mirror;
- the discharging circuit adapted to shorten a timer period required for the first transistor and the second transistor to transit from a saturation mode to a linear mode.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.