Patent Abstract:
A gate driver for switching power MOSFET including a MOS pair, a first conduction path, and a second conduction path is disclosed. The MOS pair electrically coupling gate of the power MOSFET, for controlling turning on or turning off the power MOSFET. The first conduction path electrically couples to gate of the power MOSFET and the MOS pair, and has a constant resistance. The second conduction path electrically coupling to gate of the power MOSFET and the MOS pair, having variable resistance corresponding to gate voltage of the power MOSFET.

Full Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates generally to a gate driver, and more particularly to the gate driver for switching a power MOSFET. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Power MOSFETs are applied to support large current to a loading; therefore, it is important to ensure the turning on/off sequence of the power MOSFETs to avoid damages and power consumption caused by short circuit current passing through the power MOSFETs. For example, a class D amplifier includes an output stage constructed by two power MOSFETs, one is a power PMOS and the other is a power NMOS, to support current alternately. Please refer to  FIG. 1 , it shows a class D amplifier output stage  10  including an output stage  15 , and the output stage  15  includes a power PMOS  20  and a power NMOS  25 , which gate voltages are separately controlled by gate drivers  30  and  35 . The gate drivers  30  and  35  cannot turn on the power PMOS  20  and the power NMOS  25  at the same time to avoid short circuit current from VDD to ground. In normal operation of the output stage  15 , one of the power PMOS  20  and the power NMOS  25  is turned off, and in the transition time, the gate driver  30  and  35  turn off both the power PMOS  20  and the power NMOS  25  firstly and then turn on one of the power MOSFETs. In general, a long transition time causes larger output distortion (because both power MOSFETs are turned off while a shorter transition time causes strong EMI emission (because the loading is inductive). It is one objective of this invention to discover a control mechanism achieving balance, that is, finding a gate driver with appropriate transition time. 
         [0003]      FIG. 2A  and  FIG. 2B  respectively show voltage diagram of drain and gate voltages of power NMOS  25  shown in  FIG. 1  with faster and slower gate voltage transition. It is well-known that MOSFET has a parasitic capacitor between drain and gate, therefore, when the gate voltage V G  approaches the NMOSFET&#39;s threshold voltage V TH , the drain voltage V D  will rise. The gate voltage V G  is kept constant a period of time until the drain voltage V D  reaches a constant level. The total transition time equals to T 1  plus T 2 , T 2  is proportional to T 1 , so the transition time is dominated by T 1 . In  FIG. 2A , V G  and V D  changes rapidly resulting in shorter transition time but stronger EMI emission. In  FIG. 2B , V G  and V D  changes slowly resulting in longer transition time but larger output distortion. In fact, it is necessary to solve the same issue of a power PMOS. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0004]    A new gate driver is provided to drive a power MOSFET. The gate driver, including two different conduction paths to guide electric current flowing off the gate terminal of the power MOSFET, controls the transition time of the power MOSFET from turning on to off. 
         [0005]    In embodiments, a gate driver for switching a power MOSFET is disclosed. The gate driver includes a MOS pair electrically coupling gate of the power MOSFET, a first conduction path electrically coupling to gate of the power MOSFET and the MOS pair, and a second conduction path electrically coupling to gate of the power MOSFET and the MOS pair. The MOS pair controls turning on or off the power MOSFET; the first conduction path has a constant resistance; and the second conduction path has variable resistance corresponding to gate voltage of the power MOSFET. 
         [0006]    The above and other features of the present invention will be better understood from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention that is provided in connection with the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0007]    The accompanying drawings illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention, as well as other information pertinent to the disclosure, in which: 
           [0008]      FIG. 1  is a diagram of a class D amplifier output stage. 
           [0009]      FIG. 2A  is a voltage diagram of drain and gate voltages of power NMOS shown in  FIG. 1  with rapid gate voltage transition. 
           [0010]      FIG. 2B  is voltage diagram of drain and gate voltages of power NMOS  25  shown in  FIG. 1  with slow gate voltage transition. 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  is a gate driver circuit of one embodiment of the invention. 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  is resistance curve of a resistor and a NMOS operating at linear region. 
           [0013]      FIG. 5  is voltage curve of gate voltages of power NMOS shown in  FIG. 3 . 
           [0014]      FIG. 6  is a gate driver circuit of another embodiment of the invention. 
           [0015]      FIG. 7  is resistance curve of a resistor and a PMOS operating at linear region. 
           [0016]      FIG. 8  is voltage curve of gate voltages of power PMOS shown in  FIG. 6 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0017]    This description of the exemplary embodiments is intended to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings, which are to be considered part of the entire written description. In the description, relative terms such as “lower,” “upper,” “horizontal,” “vertical,”, “above,” “below,” “up,” “down,” “top” and “bottom” as well as derivatives thereof (e.g., “horizontally,” “downwardly,” “upwardly,” etc.) should be construed to refer to the orientation as then described or as shown in the drawing under discussion. These relative terms are for convenience of description and do not require that the apparatus be constructed or operated in a particular orientation. Terms concerning attachments, coupling and the like, such as “connected” and “interconnected,” refer to a relationship wherein structures are secured or attached to one another either directly or indirectly through intervening structures, as well as both movable or rigid attachments or relationships, unless expressly described otherwise. 
         [0018]    Please refer to  FIG. 3 , which is one embodiment of the gate driver disclosed in the invention. The power NMOS  25  is the same as that shown in  FIG. 1 . The gate driver  35  comprises a MOS pair, that is, PMOS  105  and NMOS  110 , a NMOS  115 , and a resistor  120 . The gates of PMOS  105  and NMOS  10  are coupled together and are controlled by a control signal. Similar to an inverter, PMOS  105  and NMOS  110  cannot be turned on or off at the same time, i.e., there is always one been turned off and the other been turned on. The gate and drain of NMOS  115  are connected together and coupled to PMOS  105  and the gate of power NMOS  25 , and the source of NMOS  115  is coupled to the drain of NMOS  110 . This, configuration biases NMOS  115  in the linear region. As a result, NMOS  115  can be deemed a variable resistor, and the resistance of which is determined by gate voltage of the power NMOS  25 . Briefly, a smaller power NMOS  25  gate voltage results in a greater resistance between drain and source terminals of the NMOS  115 , and vice versa. In addition, one fixed resistor  120  is provided. One terminal of the resistor  120  is coupled to the gate of the power NMOS  25  and the other terminal is coupled together with the source of the NMOS  115  and the drain of NMOS  110 . In practice, the resistor  120  can be a polysilicon resistor. 
         [0019]    The NMOS  115  acts like a variable resistor but the resistor  120  has a constant resistant. They support two different conduction routes to charge or discharge the gate of power NMOS  25  to the drain of the NMOS  110 . Please refer to  FIG. 4 , which is resistance curve of a resistor and a MOS operating in the linear region. The 1st route represents the resistor  120  shown in  FIG. 3  and the 2nd route represents the NMOS  115  shown in  FIG. 3 . As  FIG. 4  shows, resistance of the 2nd route is increased when the gate voltage V G  of the power NMOS  25  is decreased. If the gate voltage V G  drops approaching the threshold voltage V TH  of NMOS  115 , resistance of NMOS  115  approaches infinity, while the resistance of the 1st route is always constant. The two curves cross each other when the-gate voltage V G  equals a reference voltage V REF , that is, when the gate voltage V G  is greater than the reference voltage V REF , resistance of the 1st route is greater than resistance of the 2nd route; when the gate voltage V G  is less than the reference voltage V REF , resistance of the 2nd route is greater than resistance of the 1st route. Therefore, the resistor  120  and the NMOS  115  provide two conduction routes for current flow from the gate of the power NMOS  25  to the drain of the NMOS  110 . 
         [0020]    The current prefers to flow through the lower resistance conduction route. Therefore more current flows through the NMOS  115  when the gate voltage V G  is greater than the reference voltage V REF , and less current flows through the resistor  120  when the gate voltage V G  is less than the reference voltage V REF . Please refer to  FIG. 5 , which is a voltage diagram of gate voltages of power NMOS shown in  FIG. 3  corresponding to this invention. T 1  of the gate voltage V G  curve shown in  FIG. 5  is divided into two parts, T A  and T B  due to the two conduction routes provided in  FIG. 3 . At beginning, the gate voltage V G  is at high level. When the control signal changes from low to high, V G  starts dropping but still greater than the reference voltage V REF , most charge stored at gate of the power NMOS  25  flows through the lower resistance conduction route, that is, the NMOS  115 , to the NMOS  110  and then to ground. The gate voltage curve of this period T A  is shown in  FIG. 5 . Continuously, the gate voltage V G  still drops and less than the reference voltage V REF  but stops near the threshold voltage V TH , most remaining charge stored at gate of the power NMOS  25  flows through the resistor  120  instead of the NMOS  115  to the NMOS  110  period T B . Because T 1  is flexibly adjusted by T A  and T B , T 1  shown in  FIG. 5  is longer than T 1  shown in  FIG. 2A  but is shorter than T 1  shown in  FIG. 2B . On the other side, T 2  keeps almost the same. Therefore, the transition time is controlled to balance the EMI issue and the output signal distortion. 
         [0021]    Please refer to  FIG. 6 ,  FIG. 6  is another embodiment of the gate driver disclosed in the invention. The power PMOS  15  is the same as shown in  FIG. 1 . The gate driver  30  comprises a MOS pair, that is, PMOS  205  and NMOS  210 , a PMOS  215 , and a resistor  220 . The gates of PMOS  205  and NMOS  210  are coupled together and are controlled by a control signal. Similar to an inverter, PMOS  205  and NMOS  210  cannot be turned on or off at the same time. The gate and drain of PMOS  215  are connected together and coupled to NMOS  210  and the gate of power PMOS  15 , and the source of PMOS  215  is coupled to the drain of PMOS  205 . This configuration biases PMOS  215  in the linear region, so the PMOS  215  can be deemed as a variable resistor which the resistance is determined by gate voltage of the power PMOS  15 . Briefly, a smaller power PMOS  15  gate voltage results in a smaller resistance between drain and source terminals of the PMOS  215 , and vice versa. In addition, one fixed resistor  220  is provided. One terminal of the resistor  220  is coupled to the gate of the power PMOS  15  and the other terminal is coupled together with the source of the PMOS  215  and the drain of PMOS  205 . In practice, the resistor  220  can be a polysilicon resistor. 
         [0022]    The PMOS  215  acts like a variable resistor but the resistor  220  has a constant resistant. They support two different conduction routes to charge or discharge from the gate of power PMOS  15  to the drain of the PMOS  205 . Please refer to  FIG. 7 , which is resistance curve of a resistor and a PMOS operating in the linear region. The 1st route represents the resistor  220  shown in  FIG. 6  and the 2nd route represents the PMOS  215  shown in  FIG. 6 . As  FIG. 7  shows, resistance of the 2nd route is decreased when the gate voltage V G  of the power PMOS  15  is decreased. If the gate voltage V GS  approaches the threshold voltage V TH  of PMOS  215 , resistance of PMOS  215  approaches infinity, while the resistance of the 1st route is always constant. The two curves cross each other when the gate voltage V G  equals a reference voltage V REF , that is, when the gate voltage V G  is less than the reference voltage V REF , resistance of the 1st route is greater than resistance of the 2nd route; when the gate voltage V G  is greater than the reference voltage V REF , resistance of the 2nd route is greater than resistance of the 1st route. Therefore, the resistor  220  and the PMOS  215  provide two conduction routes for current flow from the gate of the power PMOS  15  to the drain of the PMOS  205 . 
         [0023]    The current prefers to flow through the lower resistance conduction route. Therefore, more current flows through the PMOS  215  when the gate voltage V G  is less than the reference voltage V REF , and less current flows through the resistor  220  when the gate voltage V G  is greater than the reference voltage V REF . Please refer to  FIG. 8 , which is a voltage diagram of gate voltages of power NMOS shown in  FIG. 6  corresponding to this invention. Similar to  FIG. 5 , the gate voltage V G  of the power PMOS  15  is not a simple straight line in period T 1 . T 1  of the gate voltage V G  curve shown in  FIG. 8  is divided into two parts due to the two conduction routes provided in  FIG. 6 . At beginning, the gate voltage V G  is at low level. When the control signal changes from high to low, V G  increases but still less than the reference voltage V REF , most charge stored at gate of the power PMOS  15  flows through the low-resistance conduction route, that is, the PMOS  215 , to the PMOS  205  and then to power supply. Continuously, the gate voltage V G  still increases and greater than the reference voltage V REF  but stops near the threshold voltage V TH , most remaining charge stored at gate of the power PMOS  15  flows through the resistor  220  instead of the PMOS  215  to the PMOS  205 . Because T 1  is flexibly adjusted and T 2  keeps almost the same, the transition time is controlled to balance the EMI issue and the output signal distortion. 
         [0024]    Although the invention has been described in terms of exemplary embodiments, it is not limited thereto. Rather, the appended claims should be construed broadly to include other variants and embodiments of the invention that may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and range of equivalents of the invention.

Technology Classification (CPC): 7