NTY100N10
http://onsemi.com
4
POWER MOSFET SWITCHING
Switching behavior is most easily modeled and predicted
by recognizing that the power MOSFET is charge
controlled. The lengths of various switching intervals (Dt)
are determined by how fast the FET input capacitance can
be charged by current from the generator.
The published capacitance data is difficult to use for
calculating rise and fall because drain−gate capacitance
varies greatly with applied voltage. Accordingly, gate
charge data is used. In most cases, a satisfactory estimate
of average input current (I
G(AV)
) can be made from a
rudimentary analysis of the drive circuit so that
t = Q/I
G(AV)
During the rise and fall time interval when switching a
resistive load, V
GS
remains virtually constant at a level
known as the plateau voltage, V
SGP
. Therefore, rise and fall
times may be approximated by the following:
t
r
= Q
2
x R
G
/(V
GG
− V
GSP
)
t
f
= Q
2
x R
G
/V
GSP
where
V
GG
= the gate drive voltage, which varies from zero to
V
GG
R
G
= the gate drive resistance
and Q
2
and V
GSP
are read from the gate charge curve.
During the turn−on and turn−off delay times, gate current
is not constant. The simplest calculation uses appropriate
values from the capacitance curves in a standard equation
for voltage change in an RC network. The equations are:
t
d(on)
= R
G
C
iss
In [V
GG
/(V
GG
− V
GSP
)]
t
d(off)
= R
G
C
iss
In (V
GG
/V
GSP
)
The capacitance (C
iss
) is read from the capacitance curve
at a voltage corresponding to the off−state condition when
calculating t
d(on)
and is read at a voltage corresponding to
the on−state when calculating t
d(off)
.
At high switching speeds, parasitic circuit elements
complicate the analysis. The inductance of the MOSFET
source lead, inside the package and in the circuit wiring
which is common to both the drain and gate current paths,
produces a voltage at the source which reduces the gate
drive current. The voltage is determined by Ldi/dt, but
since di/dt is a function of drain current, the mathematical
solution is complex. The MOSFET output capacitance also
complicates the mathematics. And finally, MOSFETs have
finite internal gate resistance which effectively adds to the
resistance of the driving source, but the internal resistance
is difficult to measure and, consequently, is not specified.
The resistive switching time variation versus gate
resistance (Figure 9) shows how typical switching
performance is affected by the parasitic circuit elements. If
the parasitics were not present, the slope of the curves
would maintain a value of unity regardless of the switching
speed. The circuit used to obtain the data is constructed to
minimize common inductance in the drain and gate circuit
loops and is believed readily achievable with board
mounted components. Most power electronic loads are
inductive; the data in the figure is taken with a resistive
load, which approximates an optimally snubbed inductive
load. Power MOSFETs may be safely operated into an
inductive load; however, snubbing reduces switching
losses.
