Patent ID: 7570101

Claim:
A gate drive for an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) comprising: a control and protection module coupled to a collector terminal of the IGBT; an optical communications module coupled to the control and protection module, the optical communications module configured to send control signals to the control and protection module; a power supply module coupled to the control and protection module, the power supply module configured to distribute inputted power to the control and protection module; and an output power stage module with inputs coupled to the power supply module and the control and protection module, and outputs coupled to a gate terminal and an emitter terminal of the IGBT, wherein the control and protection module outputs on/off, soft turn-off and/or soft turn-on signals to the output power stage module, which, in turn, supplies a current based on the signal(s) from the control and protection module for charging or discharging an input capacitance of the IGBT.