UCC27523, UCC27524, UCC27525, UCC27526
SLUSAQ3E –NOVEMBER 2011–REVISED JUNE 2012
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APPLICATION INFORMATION
High-current gate-driver devices are required in switching power applications for a variety of reasons. In order to
effect fast switching of power devices and reduce associated switching power losses, a powerful gate driver
device can be employed between the PWM output of control devices and the gates of the power semiconductor
devices. Further, gate driver devices are indispensable when sometimes it is just not feasible to have the PWM
controller device directly drive the gates of the switching devices. With advent of digital power, this situation will
be often encountered since the PWM signal from the digital controller is often a 3.3-V logic signal which is not
capable of effectively turning on a power switch. A level shifting circuitry is needed to boost the 3.3-V signal to
the gate-drive voltage (such as 12 V) in order to fully turn on the power device and minimize conduction losses.
Traditional buffer drive circuits based on NPN/PNP bipolar transistors in totem-pole arrangement, being emitter
follower configurations, prove inadequate with digital power since they lack level-shifting capability. Gate driver
devices effectively combine both the level-shifting and buffer drive functions. Gate driver devices also find other
needs such as minimizing the effect of high-frequency switching noise by locating the high-current driver
physically close to the power switch, driving gate drive transformers and controlling floating power device gates,
reducing power dissipation and thermal stress in controller devices by moving gate charge power losses into
itself etc. Finally, emerging wide band-gap power device technologies such as GaN based switches, which are
capable of supporting very high switching frequency operation, are driving special requirements in terms of gate
drive capability. These requirements include operation at low VDD voltages (5 V or lower), low propagation
delays, tight delay matching and availability in compact, low-inductance packages with good thermal capability. In
summary Gate-driver devices are an extremely important component in switching power combining benefits of
high performance, low cost, component count, board-space reduction and simplified system design.
ENB
UCC2752x
ENA
1
2
3
4
ENA
ENB
OUTA
VDD
8
7
6
5
INA
INA
V+
GND
INB
GND
INB
OUTB
GND
GND
UDG-11225
Figure 27. UCC2752x Typical Application Diagram (x = 3, 4 or 5)
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