Patent · US Expired

Method of controlling the switching DI/DT and DV/DT of a MOS-gated power transistor

US6127746A · kind A · utility

40Cited by
8References
22Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateOct 8, 1997
Grant dateOct 3, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 8, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH03K17/168
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

The switching di/dt and switching dv/dt of a MOS gate controlled ("MOS-gated") power device are controlled by respectively controlling the voltage and current waveforms. Open loop control of the turn-on of the MOS-gated device is provided by coupling a common terminal of a current generator circuit, which provides a current to the gate of the MOS device, to a first resistor for controlling the switching dv/dt. At the detection of a negative dv/dt, the common terminal of the current generator circuit is then coupled to a second resistor for controlling the switching di/dt. The first and second resistors are, in turn, coupled to the source terminal fo the MOS-gated device. An analogous operation provides turn-off control of the MOS-gated power device. Closed loop control is also provided by measuring the switching dv/dt and the switching di/dt which are then fed back to the circuit to control the current supplied to the gate of the MOS-gated device. The switching di/dt can be measured by measuring the voltage difference across the length of a calibrated wire bond having a predetermined length and diameter.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.