THREE-CHANNEL HIGH-SIDE GATE DRIVER HAVING STARTUP CIRCUIT AND CONFIGURABLE OUTPUTS
First Claim
1. A driver circuit for switching a supply voltage across as few as one load and as many as three loads, said circuit comprising:
- three non-contiguous high-voltage wells formed within a low-voltage monolithic silicon substrate;
a high-side driver fabricated within each of the three high-voltage wells, each high-side driver havinga half bridge consisting of a P-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (“
MOSFET”
) in series with an N-channel MOSFET, both MOSFETs sharing a common drain that serves as a driver output, said P-channel MOSFET having a source coupled to a floating supply input, and said N-channel MOSFET having a source coupled to a floating supply return,a half-bridge control module having an output that is coupled to a gate of each MOSFET;
a separate logic input path for each of the high-side drivers, each input path comprising a logic signal input terminal, a signal amplifier, a noise filter, a pulse generator, and a high-voltage level shifter, in that order, wherein the signal amplifier, the noise filter, and the pulse generator of each path are positioned outside of the high-voltage well of their associated driver circuit, and the high-voltage level shifter, which has outputs that are coupled to the half-bridge control module, straddles the low-voltage substrate and the high-voltage well of its associated driver circuit; and
an output terminal for each high-side driver circuit, each output terminal coupled to its associated driver output through an output resistor bank having a resistance value that is set with a metal mask during manufacture.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A driver circuit includes three non-contiguous high-voltage wells formed within a low-voltage monolithic silicon substrate; a high-side driver circuit fabricated within each of the wells; a separate logic input path for each of the high-side driver circuits, each input path comprising a logic signal input terminal, a signal amplifier, a noise filter, a pulse generator, and a high-voltage level shifter; an output terminal for each driver circuit, each output terminal coupled to its associated driver circuit output through a separate mask-configurable, variable-value output resistor bank, which reduces the number of external components needed for driver circuitry; a startup circuit which prevents operation of an associated high-side switch during periods of line voltage instability; and embedded capacitor banks, each of which is in close proximity to a high-side switch, for reducing capacitive, resistive and inductance losses associated with long metal lines.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A driver circuit for switching a supply voltage across as few as one load and as many as three loads, said circuit comprising:
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three non-contiguous high-voltage wells formed within a low-voltage monolithic silicon substrate; a high-side driver fabricated within each of the three high-voltage wells, each high-side driver having a half bridge consisting of a P-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (“
MOSFET”
) in series with an N-channel MOSFET, both MOSFETs sharing a common drain that serves as a driver output, said P-channel MOSFET having a source coupled to a floating supply input, and said N-channel MOSFET having a source coupled to a floating supply return,a half-bridge control module having an output that is coupled to a gate of each MOSFET; a separate logic input path for each of the high-side drivers, each input path comprising a logic signal input terminal, a signal amplifier, a noise filter, a pulse generator, and a high-voltage level shifter, in that order, wherein the signal amplifier, the noise filter, and the pulse generator of each path are positioned outside of the high-voltage well of their associated driver circuit, and the high-voltage level shifter, which has outputs that are coupled to the half-bridge control module, straddles the low-voltage substrate and the high-voltage well of its associated driver circuit; and an output terminal for each high-side driver circuit, each output terminal coupled to its associated driver output through an output resistor bank having a resistance value that is set with a metal mask during manufacture. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A driver circuit for controlling up to three high-side switches, each of which can apply a supply voltage across load, said circuit comprising:
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three non-contiguous high-voltage wells formed within a low-voltage monolithic silicon substrate; a high-side driver fabricated within each of the three high-voltage wells, each high-side driver having a half bridge consisting of a P-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (“
MOSFET”
) in series with an N-channel MOSFET, both MOSFETs sharing a common drain that serves as a driver output to a gate of a high-voltage transistor switch, said P-channel MOSFET having a source coupled to a floating supply input, and said N-channel MOSFET having a source coupled to a floating supply return,a half-bridge control module having an output that is coupled to a gate of each MOSFET; a separate logic input path for each of the high-side drivers, each input path comprising a logic signal input terminal, a signal amplifier, a noise filter, a pulse generator, and a high-voltage level shifter, in that order, wherein the signal amplifier, the noise filter, and the pulse generator of each path are positioned outside of the high-voltage well of their associated driver circuit, and the high-voltage level shifter, which has outputs that are coupled to the half-bridge control module, straddles the low-voltage substrate and the high-voltage well of its associated driver circuit; and an under-voltage detect module having an input coupled to the source of the P-channel MOSFET and an output coupled to the half-bridge control module, said under-voltage detect module preventing activation of the half-bridge control module whenever a voltage level at the floating supply input is inadequate for driving the high-side switches. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A driver circuit for controlling three high-side switches, each of which can apply a supply voltage to one of three windings of a three-phase brushless DC motor at predefined intervals, said circuit comprising:
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three non-contiguous high-voltage wells formed within a low-voltage monolithic silicon substrate; a high-side driver fabricated within each of the three high-voltage wells, each high-side driver having a half bridge consisting of a P-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (“
MOSFET”
) in series with an N-channel MOSFET, both MOSFETs sharing a common drain that serves as a driver output to a gate of a high-voltage transistor switch, said P-channel MOSFET having a source coupled to a floating supply input, and said N-channel MOSFET having a source coupled to a floating supply return,a half-bridge control module having an output that is coupled to a gate of each MOSFET; a separate logic input path for each high-side driver circuit, each input path comprising a logic signal input terminal, a signal amplifier, a noise filter, a pulse generator, and a high-voltage level shifter, in that order, wherein the signal amplifier, the noise filter, and the pulse generator of each path are positioned outside of the high-voltage well of their associated driver circuit, and the high-voltage level shifter, which has outputs that are coupled to the half-bridge control module, straddles the low-voltage substrate and the high-voltage well of its associated driver circuit; and an under-voltage detect module for each high-side driver circuit, said under-voltage detect module having an input coupled to the source of the P-channel MOSFET and an output coupled to the half-bridge control module, said under-voltage detect module preventing activation of the half-bridge control module whenever a voltage level at the floating supply input is inadequate for driving the high-side switches, each under-voltage detect module also incorporating timing components which create non-symmetric turn-on and turn-off threshold voltage values that reduce occurrences of false turn-ons and turn-offs of the associated high-side driver circuit. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification