Discontinuous-Current-Source Drivers for High-Frequency Power MOSFETs

This paper proposes a new current-source driver (CSD) with discontinuous inductor current. Compared to other CSDs proposed in the previous work, the most important advantage of the proposed CSD is the small inductance (typically, 20 nH at 1 MHz switching frequency). This translates into the footprint reduction of as much as 90% compared with the continuous CSDs. Other features of the proposed CSD includes: 1) fast switching speed and reduced switching loss; 2) discontinuous inductor current with low circulating loss; 3) gate energy recovery; and 4) wide range of duty cycle and switching frequency. The experimental results verified the functionality of the proposed CSD. At 12 V input, 1.3 V output, and 1 MHz switching frequency, the new CSD improves the efficiency from 80.7% using a conventional driver to 85.7% at 25 A output, and at 30 A output, from 77.9% to 84.4%.