Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar

Design for a
Gate-Driver
Circuit
Presentation by Dhruv Parekh

Under The Guidance of Dr.Ragavan.K, Pragnesh Parekh Sir and Rachna Panwar

Electrical Engineering | 2023

 Introduction
The gate driver plays a crucial role in motor system design by serving as an integrated circuit (IC) that
boosts the performance of external power switches to efficiently supply current to an electric motor.
It serves as a bridge between the logic-level control inputs and the power switches.
To be effective, the gate driver needs to be strong and adaptable, capable of handling various external
switch choices and different external system scenarios.
A gate driver is a type of power amplifier that receives a low-power input from a controller IC and
generates a high-current drive input to the gate of a high-power transistor, such as an IGBT or power
MOSFET.
This amplification process allows for the efficient and effective control of high-power devices using low-
power control signals.
 Introduction
For every power semiconductor-controlled device to become conductive, a gate signal is necessary.
However, the gate drive requirement of each device differs depending on various factors such as
voltage and current rating, as well as the device type.
The drive circuit amplifies the control signals to levels required to drive the power switch and provides
electrical isolation when required between the power switch and the logic-level signal
processing/control circuits.
The gate driver circuit's output must be able to handle the high voltage and current levels that are
typically present in power electronic applications. In addition, the circuit must be designed to minimize
the switching losses and provide protection against overvoltage, overcurrent, and overheating.
In summary, gate driver circuits are an essential component in power electronic systems, allowing for
efficient and reliable control of power semiconductors.
Gate Driver
Circuits for
IGBTS
 Miller Effect
An IGBT is a MOSFET-driven power BJT. Thus the same driver circuits used for MOSFET are applicable to
the IGBT.
The gate is isolated electrically from the source by a layer of silicon dioxide. Ideally, no current (except
Leakage Current) flows into the gate when a dc voltage is applied.
Therefore, a small current is enough to charge and discharge the device capacitances.
If the gate voltage is reduced to zero for turn-off operation, VDS attains the supply voltage magnitude
(VDD), the potential at Drain swings from 0 to VDD and Cgd is charged up to to VDD through a low gate
source impedance.
Now if a gate drive signal is applied (higher than the threshold value), the device will be on.
Ideally, the voltage across D and S reduces to zero and terminal D will swing to ground potential. The
decreasing VDS produces a feedback current through Cgd to the gate circuit.
This feedback mechanism is called the ‘‘Miller effect.’’
 Thus, the source and sink capabilities of the gate drive are required:
(i) due to the charging and discharging of Cgs; and
(ii) due to the large swing in the gate-to-drain voltage. Although Cgs is an important parameter, Cgd is
more significant due to the Miller effect.
As the source resistance (Rg) is in series with Cgs and Cgd, the turn-on time and the turn-off time are
affected by this resistance.
 CMOS VS TTL
Q)Why CMOS is not used even though it can drive the gate with required magnitude of drive voltage?
A)Because it does not have the required sink and source current that rise due to Miller Effect. This is
important to have good switching speeds.
Transistor-transistor logic (TTL) has better source and sink capabilities than its counterpart CMOS, which
speeds up the switching. But only 3.5 v output voltage.
Thus the output voltage magnitude can be raised by the open-collector TTL device with a pull-up
resistor connected to a separate +10 to +15 V dc power supply.
This arrangement ensures sufficient gate voltage to turn on the MOSFET fully without losing switching
speed by comprimising on sink and source currents/
Design Considerations
of Gate Driver Circuits
Ciss ->input common source
capacitance
Coss - output common source
capacitance
Crss - reverse common source
capacitance

 Design Considerations
of Gate Driver Circuits
The device switching speed depends largely on Crss (or Cgd ) and the gate drive source
impedance. However, two considerations make accurate estimation of switching time
(turn-on and turn-off) difficult.
First, the magnitude of Ciss varies with VDS, particularly large variation at low drain
voltage levels. The switching time constant (RC) determined by Ciss and gate-drive
impedance changes even during the switching cycle. The second consideration is due to
the Miller effect.
Design Considerations
of Gate Driver Circuits
The switching transition can be divided into three
distinct periods

 Design Considerations
of Gate Driver Circuits
The interconnection from the gate driver to the MOSFET can be modeled with a lumped
inductance
l ->trace length
w -> trace width
d-> distance from the trace to the ground plane

 Design Considerations
of Gate Driver Circuits
Damping Ratio is given by;

For Damping Ratio = 1, R is

given by
 Design Considerations
of Gate Driver Circuits

For a large resistance value, will efficiently damp out oscilations, but it slows down the
switching speed. For a voltage source of 12V and source or sink current of about 1A, 12
ohm resistor is suitable upper value to damp oscillations.
But for an underdamped circuit, switching speed is greater. So if a small overshoot is
allowed then dmaping ratio changes and suitable resistor value is found to be smaller.
 GDC FOR IGBT
Input Capacitance
-Has to be charged before device can turn on and discharge to a set voltage
level before turn off

Output Capacitance
Affects Ripple in the signal.

Reverse Transfer Capacitance

CMTI Miller Capacitance
Miller capacitor causes a dv/dt shoot-through during IGBT switching
Maximum tolerable rise or fall rate of Due to this gate-collector coupling, a high dV/dt transient created
common mode voltage during IGBT turn-off and it will cause a parasitic turn-on of IGBT
 Gate Driver IC used - ISO5852S
IGBT Used - IRG4PH4OUD2-E

Designing the Gate

Driver Circuit
External Gate Resistance Calculation
Q = Total Gate Charge - Amount of Charge that needs to be injected into the gate
electrode to turn on the IGBT
Q = I*t=150nc (max)
Vge=15-(-8)=23V
C = Q/Vge = 6.52 nF
Lp=uld/w (l-track length=10cm, d-track-gnd distance=2.5cm,w-track width=0.2cm)
=4pi * 10^-9*10*2.5/0.2 +10% = 1730 nH
Damping Ratio =1
R=2(L/C)^0.5 + 10%= 36 ohm
 Gate Driver IC used - ISO5852S
IGBT Used - IRG4PH4OUD2-E

Designing the Gate

Driver Circuit
Determining the Maximum Available, Dynamic Output Power, POD-max

 Gate Driver IC used - ISO5852S

IGBT Used - IRG4PH4OUD2-E

Designing the Gate

Driver Circuit
Determining the Maximum Available, Dynamic Output Power, POD-max

For Resistance is 36 ohm P(worst condition) is less thsn 88.25 mW

 Plan Ahead
To make the PCB for one pair of IGBT Switches and test with Synchronous
Reluctance Motor after the arrival of ISO5852S
Code Control logic and implement for all 3 pairs of IGBT Switches.
Test Motor for different voltage and current values
Indian Institute of Technology

Thank
You!
Presentation by Dhruv Parekh

Electrical Engineering| 2023

 References
https://www.ti.com/lit/ml/slua618a/slua618a.pdf?
ts=1681867240224&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252F
Rashid Power Electronics Handbook
TI Designs IGBT Gate Driver Reference Design for Parallel IGBTs With Short-Circuit Protection and External BJT Buffer
Power Electronics - Ned Mohan
https://www.controleng.com/articles/tutorial-mitigating-parasitic-turn-on-effect-in-igbt-output-drives-to-improve-
drive-performance/
https://www.controleng.com/articles/tutorial-mitigating-parasitic-turn-on-effect-in-igbt-output-drives-to-improve-
drive-performance/
https://www.controleng.com/articles/tutorial-mitigating-parasitic-turn-on-effect-in-igbt-output-drives-to-improve-
drive-performance/
https://www.controleng.com/articles/tutorial-mitigating-parasitic-turn-on-effect-in-igbt-output-drives-to-improve-
drive-performance/
www.controleng.com