4
Motorola TMOS Power MOSFET Transistor Device Data
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 (
t) 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 calculat-
ing 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 (IG(AV)) can be made from a rudimentary analysis of
the drive circuit so that
t = Q/IG(AV)
During the rise and fall time interval when switching a resis-
tive load, VGS remains virtually constant at a level known as
the plateau voltage, VSGP. Therefore, rise and fall times may
be approximated by the following:
tr = Q2 x RG/(VGG – VGSP)
tf = Q2 x RG/VGSP
where
VGG = the gate drive voltage, which varies from zero to VGG
RG = the gate drive resistance
and Q2 and VGSP 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 val-
ues from the capacitance curves in a standard equation for
voltage change in an RC network. The equations are:
td(on) = RG Ciss In [VGG/(VGG – VGSP)]
td(off) = RG Ciss In (VGG/VGSP)
The capacitance (Ciss) is read from the capacitance curve at
a voltage corresponding to the off–state condition when cal-
culating td(on) and is read at a voltage corresponding to the
on–state when calculating td(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 compli-
cates 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 resis-
tance (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.
GATE–TO–SOURCE OR DRAIN–TO–SOURCE VOLTAGE (VOLTS)
C
Figure 7. Capacitance Variation
6000
VGS
VDS
VDS = 0 V
Ciss
5000
4000
3000
2000
0
10
5
0
VGS = 0 V
TJ = 25
°
C
5
10
15
20
25
Ciss
Coss
Crss
Crss
1000