Patent ID: 7545173

Claim:
A circuit for driving a field-effect transistor (FET) of a power converter, comprising: an input circuit for receiving an input signal and having a variable input voltage supply; an output circuit having an output voltage supply independent of the input voltage supply, and having an output node coupled to a gate of the FET; the output voltage supply including a first node for providing a higher level voltage, and a second node for providing a lower level voltage, controlled switches respectively coupling the output node to the first and second nodes in accordance with a state of the input signal; a trailing transition accelerating circuit coupled between the input circuit and the output circuit and configured to accelerate transition of a trailing edge of a signal at the output node transitioning between the higher level voltage and the lower level voltage; a level shifting circuit coupled between the input circuit and the trailing transition accelerating circuit; and a driver circuit coupled between the trailing transition accelerating circuit and the controlled switches; the trailing transition accelerating circuit including: a latch circuit coupled to the level shifting circuit; and a data selection circuit coupled to the level shifting circuit, the latch circuit, and the driver circuit.