Patent ID: 8102192

Claim:
A method for use by a gate driver circuit to drive a first transistor having gate, source, and drain terminals, the first transistor being part of a switching stage of a power switching circuit, the method comprising the following steps: upon receipt of an ON pulse pre-charging the gate terminal with a pre-charge current, only until gate to source terminal voltage of the first transistor equals Vth, providing the gate with a low ON charging current until the source terminal rises to zero volts, and controlling the di/dt(ON) flowing in the first transistor while free wheeling current is flowing in a second transistor of the switching stage, and providing the gate with a high ON charging current, and controlling the dv/dt(ON) of the first transistor while a charge on the gate terminal is present; and upon receipt of an OFF pulse providing the gate with a high OFF discharging current until the source terminal falls to zero volts, and controlling the dv/dt(OFF) of the first transistor until free wheeling current is not flowing in the second transistor, and providing the gate with a low OFF discharging current until gate to source voltage of the first transistor falls below Vth and controlling the di/dt(OFF) flowing in the first transistor while the gate to source terminal voltage equals Vth, wherein the pre-charge and high ON charging currents are larger than the low ON charging current, and the high OFF discharging current is larger than the low OFF discharging current.