Patent ID: 8466734

Claim:
A gate driving circuit for a power semiconductor element comprising: a sense resistor in which a sense current proportional to a main current in a switching element flows; an overcurrent detection circuit and a short circuit detection circuit that each receive a sense voltage generated in the sense resistor; a gate voltage monitoring circuit that receives a gate voltage of the switching element; a delay circuit that receives an output signal from the overcurrent detection circuit; a logic circuit that receives output signals of the overcurrent detection circuit, of the short circuit detection circuit, and of the gate voltage monitoring circuit; a first semiconductor element that receives an output signal from the delay circuit; a second semiconductor element that receives an output signal from the logic circuit; a predriving circuit that receives an output signal from the delay circuit and drives the switching element; and an output stage circuit that receives an output signal from the predriving circuit and delivers a gate signal to the switching element; wherein the overcurrent detection circuit outputs a first output signal when the sense voltage exceeds a first reference voltage indicating an overcurrent level, the short circuit detection circuit outputs a second output signal when the sense voltage exceeds a second reference voltage indicating a short circuit current level, and the gate voltage monitoring circuit outputs a third output signal when the gate voltage of the switching element exceeds a pseudo-threshold voltage that is higher than a gate threshold voltage; and wherein the first semiconductor element is turned ON while the second semiconductor element is OFF, and the second semiconductor element is then turned ON when the logic circuit receives the first, second and third outputs.