Towards ultra high frequency and high efficiency gate drive circuits

Abstract

Recent developments in semiconductor technology enabled developing converters with ultra high switching frequency to achieve high power densities which increased the complexity of designing optimized gate drive circuits. This paper discusses latest developments in gate drive technologies including level-shifting, isolated power sources and drive circuit techniques which are further investigated by simulation and compared to be used in future gate drive circuits. Special considerations for designing gate drive circuits have been mentioned and foundation laid out for further optimization of their performance. Finally a new gate drive circuit was proposed based on mentioned developments and challenges discussed to bring proposed gate drive circuit into practical industrial applications. © 2013 IEEE.