Patent ID: 7612602

Claim:
A method of controlling operation of first and second power switching devices having gate capacitors, comprising: charging the gate capacitors of the first and second power switching devices at a high current level; connecting the gate capacitors of the first and second power switching devices to a voltage source, via a first low impedance path, while the first and second power switching devices are on; discharging the gate capacitors of the first and second power switching devices at a high current level; and maintaining the voltage across the gate capacitors of the first and second power switching devices at a low voltage via a second low impedance path while the first and second power switching devices are off; so as to reduce energy loss for charging and discharging the gate capacitors of the first and second power switching devices and to reduce switching loss of the first and second power switching devices; wherein the gate capacitors are directly between a gate and a source, an emitter, or a cathode of the first and second power switching devices and are part of the power switching devices; wherein the charging, connecting, and discharging are performed on the gate capacitors of the first and second power switching devices at different times; wherein an inductor is directly connected between the gate capacitors of the first and second power switching devices; and wherein the first and second power switching devices are selected from MOSFET, IGBT and MCT.