Circuit comprising an accelerating element

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9917575-B2
Application number	US-201313937075-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 8, 2013
Priority date	Jul 8, 2013
Publication date	Mar 13, 2018
Grant date	Mar 13, 2018

Abstract

A circuit includes a switching element with a first terminal, a second terminal and a control terminal. The circuit also includes an impedance network coupled between the control terminal and a switching node. The circuit also includes a first accelerating element coupled between the control terminal and a first node. The first node is different from the switching node. The circuit is configured to temporarily activate the first accelerating element when a switching state of the switching element is to be changed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A circuit comprising:
a switching element with a first terminal, a second terminal and a control terminal;
an impedance network coupled between the control terminal and a switching node for receiving a switching signal, wherein a state of the switching signal is determined by a state of a switch state signal; and
a first accelerating element coupled between a node between the control terminal and the impedance network, and a first node, the first node being different from the switching node,
wherein the circuit is configured to temporarily activate the first accelerating element using a pulse signal which is different from the switching signal when a switching state of the switching element is to be changed and in response to a transition of the switch state signal.

2. The circuit of claim 1 , wherein the first node is the first terminal.

3. The circuit according to claim 1 , wherein the first accelerating element is coupled with the first terminal to the control terminal of the switching element and is configured to temporarily charge or discharge the control terminal when a switching state of the switching element is to be changed, and wherein a second accelerating element is coupled with a second terminal to the control terminal of the switching element and is configured to temporarily charge or discharge the control terminal when a switching state of the switching element is to be changed.

4. The circuit according to claim 1 , wherein the first accelerating element is coupled with the first terminal to the control terminal of the switching element and is configured to temporarily charge or discharge the control terminal when a switching state of the switching element is to be changed.

5. The circuit according to claim 1 , wherein a first device is coupled between the first terminal of the switching element and a ground;
wherein a second device is coupled between the second terminal of the switching element and the ground; and
wherein a third device is coupled between the first terminal and the second terminal of the switching element, wherein at least one of the first terminal, the second terminal and the control terminal of the switching element are adapted to provide a signal to a feedback amplifier and wherein the control terminal of the switching element is adapted to receive a temporary charge injection from the feedback amplifier.

6. A circuit comprising:
a switching element with a first terminal, a second terminal and a control terminal; and
a first accelerating element coupled between the control terminal and the first terminal of the switching element,
wherein the circuit is configured to temporarily activate the first accelerating element to provide a connection between the first terminal and the control terminal when a switching state of the switching element is to be changed,
wherein the circuit is configured to:
temporarily activate the first accelerating element in response to a transition of a switch state signal,
provide a switching signal, which is coupled to the control terminal of the switching element via an impedance network, on a basis of the switch state signal, or
couple the switch state signal to the control terminal of the switching element via the impedance network, and

wherein the circuit is configured to provide the switching signal, which is coupled to the control terminal of the switching element via the impedance network, such that a state of the switching signal is determined by a state of the switch state signal.

7. The circuit according to claim 6 , further comprising a second accelerating element coupled between the control terminal and the second terminal of the switching element, wherein the circuit is configured to temporarily activate the second accelerating element when a switching state of the switching element is to be changed.

8. The circuit according to claim 6 , further comprising an impedance network coupled between the control terminal of the switching element and a control circuit for providing a switching signal.

9. The circuit according to claim 6 , wherein the impedance network comprises a resistor, and wherein the first accelerating element is coupled between a node which is between the control terminal of the switching element and the resistor and the first terminal of the switching element.

10. The circuit according to claim 6 , wherein the circuit is configured to generate a discharge pulse to temporarily activate the first accelerating element.

11. The circuit according to claim 7 , wherein circuit is configured to generate a discharge pulse to temporarily activate the second accelerating element.

12. The circuit according to claim 6 , wherein the first accelerating element is configured to bring a potential at the control terminal of the switching element to an intermediate potential, which is between an on-state control potential of the switching element and an off-state control potential of the switching element.

13. The circuit according to claim 12 , wherein the intermediate potential is reached, within a tolerance of ±100 mV within a period of time which is smaller than an RC-time constant of a control resistor and a gate capacitance of the switching element, or which is smaller than one tenth of the RC-time constant, or which is smaller than 1/50 of the RC-time constant.

14. The circuit according to claim 6 , wherein an on-resistance of the first accelerating element is smaller than a resistance of a resistor coupled at the control terminal of the switching element or smaller than 1/10 of the resistor coupled at the control terminal.

15. The circuit according to claim 7 , wherein the first accelerating element is a second transistor and a control terminal of the second transistor is configured to receive a discharge control signal, and wherein the second accelerating element is a third transistor and a control terminal of said third transistor is configured to receive a discharge control signal.

16. The circuit according to claim 15 , wherein the second transistor and the third transistor are both N-type unipolar transistors or both P-type unipolar transistors.

17. The circuit according to claim 15 , wherein the control terminal of the second transistor and the control terminal of the third transistor are electrically coupled.

18. The circuit according to claim 6 , wherein a resistor is coupled between the first terminal or the second terminal of the switching element and a reference potential.

19. The circuit according to claim 6 , wherein the switching element is a unipolar transistor, a field-effect transistor (FET), or a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistor (MOSFET), wherein a threshold voltage of said field-effect transistor is in a range between −0.7V and +0.7V.

20. The circuit according to claim 6 , wherein the circuit comprises an inverting or non-inverting level converter configured to provide the switching signal on the basis of the switch state signal.

21. The circuit according to claim 7 , wherein the circuit is configured to:
activate both the first accelerating element and the second accelerating element for a change from a first switching state of the switching element to a second switching state of the switching element, and
to activate both the first accelerating element and the second accelerating element for a change from the second switching state of the switching element to the first switching state of the switching element.

22. The circuit acco

Assignees

• Infineon Technologies Ag

Inventors

• Solomko Valentyn
• Bakalski Winfried
• Ilkov Nikolay
• Simbuerger Werner

Classifications

• H03K17/04206 Primary

  in field-effect transistor switches · CPC title