Toward Generic Fully Integrated Gate Driver Power Supplies

An original method to power supply gate drivers has been developed. This solution takes advantage of power switches commutations to recharge a storage capacitor, and then to create the necessary floating power supply, useful for many power electronic converters. This low cost solution can be integrated, but it presents disadvantages: the storage capacitor must be adjusted with respect to ON state time duration, and permanent ON state operation is forbidden. Moreover, with the existing solution, low frequency operation is forbidden, because high value storage capacitor would be required. The proposed work presents an innovative solution to allow flexible or even permanent ON state time duration operation of a self-powered MOSFET, using few supplementary elements and non linear voltage regulation techniques. This solution exhibits fairly good efficiency levels (corresponding to a short increase of ON state losses) and presents a high ability for simple implementation and monolithic integration. Added to these new specifities, lower storage capacitor value can be used for this self powered driver power supply, allowing low frequency operation, low storage capacitor value, and high duty cycle operation, leading to a generic and versatile powering solution. This particular innovation also improves the integration of the storage capacitor, in same substrate as the main switch and its self powering circuits