On-Chip Power Stage and Gate Driver for Fast Switching Applications

The demand for low-cost integrated circuits for automotive applications is increasing, while their cost must remain low to keep the product competitive. In this scenario, a high-speed monolithic integrated circuit to control a load current is here proposed. It is composed by a level shifter and a gate driver for a high power switch in a DC-DC Buck converter to be realized in a low cost technology. For chip area reduction, an n-channel vertical power transistor is chosen as power transistor. High switching frequency (up to 1MHz) can be used to reduce external components size. The device is optimized to achieve 94.4% efficiency. Implementation concept, schematic and layout will be shown.