Patent ID: 7786688

Claim:
A motor drive circuit which supplies a drive signal to an output stage including at least two pairs of transistors, wherein a transistor pair includes a high side transistor and a low side transistor connected in series between a power supply voltage terminal and a ground terminal, and which supplies a switching voltage to a coil of a motor that is to be driven, the motor drive circuit comprising: a drive signal generation circuit which generates a drive signal that controls ON and OFF states of the output stage transistors in accordance with a target value of torque of the motor; and a driver circuit which alternately turns ON and OFF the high side transistors and the low side transistors of the output stage, based on the drive signal outputted from the drive signal generation circuit; wherein, when an instruction is issued to stop the motor, the driver circuit immediately turns OFF one of either the high side transistors or the low side transistors of the transistor pairs, and, after a predetermined delay time has elapsed, turns OFF another of either the high side transistors or the low side transistors of the transistor pairs.