IP Library › Granted Patent US 9,712,147
Granted Patent B2
US 9,712,147 · App. 15/242,342 · Granted Jul 18, 2017

Method for driving a transistor device and electronic circuit

Inventor: Stephan Donath (Unterhaching, DE)
Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
H03K17/04106
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,712,147
App. No.
15/242,342
Granted
Jul 18, 2017
Kind
B2
Abstract

Disclosed is a method and a drive circuit. The method includes measuring a frequency of an input signal received by a drive circuit and driving a transistor device by the drive circuit based on the input signal such that a switching speed of the transistor is dependent on the measured frequency. The drive circuit is configured to receive an input signal, to measure a frequency of the input signal, and to drive a transistor device based on the input signal such that a switching speed of the transistor is dependent on the measured frequency.

Claims (37)

1. A method, comprising:

measuring a frequency of an input signal received by a drive circuit; and

driving a transistor device by the drive circuit based on the input signal, wherein a switching speed of the transistor device is dependent on the measured frequency.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising increasing the switching speed of the transistor device as the measured frequency increases.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the switching speed of the transistor device comprises the switching speed of at least at one of switching on the transistor device and switching off the transistor device.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein driving the transistor device comprises generating a drive signal at a gate node of the transistor device.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising increasing the switching speed of the transistor device as the measured frequency increases, wherein

generating the drive signal comprises driving a gate current into the gate node, and

increasing the switching speed comprises increasing a current level of the gate current.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein:

switching on the transistor device comprises driving the gate current in a first direction; and

switching off the transistor device comprises driving the gate current in a second direction opposite the first direction.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

driving the transistor device comprises driving the transistor device in a plurality of timely successive drive cycles such that the transistor device switches on once and switches off once in each drive cycle; and

measuring the frequency comprises measuring a duration of at least one drive cycle.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein measuring the frequency comprises measuring durations of several successive drive cycles and calculating and average duration based on the measured durations.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein measuring the frequency comprises measuring the frequency anew before each drive cycle.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein measuring the frequency comprises measuring the frequency every n drive cycles and applying the measured frequency in n successive drive cycles.

11. A drive circuit configured to:

receive an input signal;

measure a frequency of the input signal; and

drive a transistor device based on the input signal, wherein a switching speed of the transistor device is dependent on the measured frequency.

12. The drive circuit of claim 11 , wherein the drive circuit is configured to increase the switching speed as the measured frequency increases.

13. The drive circuit of claim 11 , wherein the drive circuit is configured to drive the transistor device based on the measured frequency at least at one of switching on and switching off the transistor device.

14. The drive circuit of claim 11 , wherein the drive circuit is configured to drive the transistor device by generating a drive signal at a gate node of the transistor device.

15. The drive circuit of claim 14 , wherein the drive circuit is configured to:

generate the drive signal by driving a gate current into the gate node; and

increase the switching by increasing a current level of the gate current.

16. The drive circuit of claim 15 , wherein the drive circuit is configured to:

switch on the transistor device by driving the gate current in a first direction; and

switch off the transistor device by driving the gate current in a second direction opposite the first direction.

17. The drive circuit of claim 15 , wherein the drive circuit is configured to:

drive the transistor device in a plurality of timely successive drive cycles such that the transistor device switches on once and switches off once in each drive cycle; and

measure the frequency by measuring a duration of at least one drive cycle.

18. The drive circuit of claim 17 , wherein the drive circuit is configured to measure the frequency by measuring durations of several successive drive cycles and calculating an average duration based on the measured durations.

19. The drive circuit of claim 17 , wherein the drive circuit is configured to measure the frequency by measuring the frequency anew before each drive cycle.

20. The drive circuit of claim 17 , wherein the drive circuit is configured to measure the frequency every n drive cycles and apply the measured frequency in n successive drive cycles.

Priority Claims (1)
DE 10 2015 113 796 · Aug 20, 2015 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20170054437A1 · Feb 23, 2017