Variable Gate Current Range Digital Gate Driver IC Always Providing 6-bit Controllability in Various IGBTs

To eliminate the need to redesign digital gate driver (DGD) ICs for each of a wide variety of power devices, the world’s first variable gate current (I
G
) range DGD (VIR-DGD) ICs with variable maximum I
G
and resolutions are proposed. The innovation of VIR-DGD ICs is that a variable resistor on PCB allows one-bit I
G
(I
1BIT
) to be freely varied, thereby maintaining 6-bit controllability of DGD at all times for a wide variety of power devices. A 6-bit VIR-DGD IC with variable maximum I
G
from 0.51 A to 5.1 A and I
1BIT
from 8.1 mA to 81 mA has been developed. The trade-off problem between loss and noise during turn-on has been successfully solved by an active gate driving using the VIR-DGD IC for two types of IGBTs with twice the rated current.