CMOS gate drivers with integrated optical interfaces for extremely fast power transistors
Résumé
Novel power semiconductor devices such as GaN
High Electron Mobility transistors and SiC MOSFET are
allowing significant improvements on switching speeds.
Currently, gate drivers are one of the main limitations preventing
the highest switching speed operation of wide bandgap power
transistors. More especially, isolation barriers are limiting the
Common-Mode Transient Immunity (CMTI) of dedicated gate
drivers. Here, we propose two CMOS gate drivers with
integrated optical receivers to transfer both the gate signal and
the gate driver supply directly by light. Two technologies are
considered, namely bulk 0.18um CMOS and 0.18um SOI CMOS,
both having ultra-low propagation delays and pulse width
distortions. The proposed optical interconnect with optical fibers
allows extreme CMTI values, defined by the packaging and the
distance between light emitting devices and the CMOS gate
drivers. These integrated CMOS gate drivers will offer the fastest
switching speeds for wide bandgap power transistors.