Gate drive methods for IGBTs in bridge configurations

The insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) combines the advantages of both MOS and bipolar transistor technologies into a near-ideal power semiconductor switch. Of the various application areas, the use of IGBTs in the half or full-bridge power convertor configuration is very common. Such applications have typical requirements like isolated drivers, high dv/dt stress withstand, protection against shoot-through fault, etc. This paper presents various types of gate drive circuits suitable for such situations and their relative performance under actual circuit conditions. This includes pulse-transformer circuits (where a secondary power supply is not required) for PWM control, as well as opto-isolator circuits where the secondary power supply may be derived from the inverter DC bus. Protection schemes for the IGBT that can be incorporated into the drive circuit are also discussed