US 12,231,033 B2
Active gate driver for wide band gap power semiconductor devices
Yash Veer Singh, Menomonee Falls, WI (US); Armen Baronian, Toronto (CA); Piranavan Suntharalingam, Menomonee Falls, WI (US); Mikhail Goykhman, Reseda, CA (US); and Galen Chui, Ladera Ranch, CA (US)
Assigned to EATON INTELLIGENT POWER LIMITED, Dublin (IE)
Appl. No. 17/909,215
Filed by EATON INTELLIGENT POWER LIMITED, Dublin (IE)
PCT Filed Mar. 5, 2021, PCT No. PCT/EP2021/025094
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Sep. 2, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/175496, PCT Pub. Date Sep. 10, 2021.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/986,441, filed on Mar. 6, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0089458 A1, Mar. 23, 2023
Int. Cl. H02M 1/08 (2006.01); H02M 1/00 (2006.01); H02M 1/36 (2007.01); H02M 1/44 (2007.01)
CPC H02M 1/083 (2013.01) [H02M 1/0009 (2021.05); H02M 1/0054 (2021.05); H02M 1/36 (2013.01); H02M 1/44 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A gate drive circuit for a wide band gap (WBG) power device in the form of an insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT), comprising:
a buffer coupled via a first current path to a gate of the IGBT, the buffer capable of being supplied with a turn-on command and a turn-off command, the buffer supplying a first current via the first current path to the gate of the IGBT upon being supplied with the turn-on command and stopping supply of the first current upon being supplied with the turn-off command;
a di/dt sensing network receiving a feedback control signal representative of a voltage measurement across a parasitic inductance that exists between a Kelvin emitter and a power emitter of the IGBT;
a turn-on circuit portion that, upon the buffer being supplied with the turn-on command and the di/dt sensing network receiving a feedback control signal representative of zero volts measured across the parasitic inductance, supplies a second current via a second current path to the gate of the IGBT in addition to the first current supplied by the buffer; and
a turn-off circuit portion, upon the buffer receiving the turn-off command and the di/dt sensing network receiving a feedback control signal representative of zero volts measured across the parasitic inductance, discharges a gate capacitance of the IGBT through both the first current path and a third current path.