Slew rate control of discrete IGBT and CoolMOS reaches targets far beyond the gate resistor regime

Inhalt:
The control of power semiconductors with respect to turn-on is usually a matter of the gate resistance selection. This paper proposes a different way of gate turn-on by utilizing a current source, which charges the gate structure of MOS-controlled power transistors with a constant current. This results in an improved controllability towards slower turn-on in terms of di/dt. Double-pulse measurements show the behavior during turn-on of a selected reverse conducting IGBT and a CoolMOS transistor with fast body diode. The results are compared to a standard gate driver including various gate resistors.