Patent ID: 8508258

Claim:
A gate driver circuit for a wide gap type power semiconductor switching device, comprising, a driver circuit for supplying a drive signal to a gate terminal of the switching device with reference to an emitter control terminal or a source control terminal of the switching device, and a diode between the emitter control terminal or the source control terminal of the power semiconductor switching device and the gate terminal of the power semiconductor switching device, wherein: a temperature of the power semiconductor switching device is detected based on a forward voltage drop of the diode, in response to an increase in the detected temperature, the drive circuit raises a gate drive voltage or reduces a gate drive resistance value to adjust the drive signal to continue driving the switching device with an increased drive signal to decrease dependence of loss in the wide gap type semiconductor switching device upon the increase in the detected temperature, wherein the wide gap type power semiconductor switching device is comprised of a SiC or a GaN wide gap type power semiconductor switching device, wherein a detection operation of the forward voltage drop of the diode is conducted during an off-period of the power semiconductor switching device, and wherein the off period of the power semiconductor switching device is a period based on an off signal of a PWM signal which alternates between an on signal and the off signal.