MOSFET switching Gate Drive Voltage less than Load Voltage

Jan 06, 2006 2 Replies

Hi,



Can a mosfet be drived with a 10-12V gate pulses while it is switching only 7.2V or less. What effect will this have on the driver circuity. BTW the power supply for the control IC is different from the load supply. Control IC: TL494 (Mode-0) MOSFET: IRF540



Please advise. Thanks



kishore.



You betcha.

Very little. The low drain voltage during switching will result in reduced impact due to the miller capacitance. As a consequence the effective gate charge that must be supplied/sunk by the gate driver during switching transitions will be slightly less than if you were switching a higher voltage. This is normally considered benficial since it means you will need a slightly wimpier gate driver circuit for a given switching speed, but the impact is fairly minimal.

Just make sure your two supplies share a common ground at the source. If they are isolated, you could use a gate drive transformer.

Also it your 7.2 volt signal has a high source impedance, you might pickup swtching noise that jumps through the gate causing spikes in the switching edges of the drain signal.

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