The gate driver IC is optimised for GaN devices and achieves gate drive speeds on the order of nanoseconds, suitable for high speed GaN switching. It can be used to save energy and to shrink the size of lidar applications and data centres. The result is fast switching with a minimum gate input pulse width of 1.25ns for smaller, more energy efficient, higher performance applications.

GaN devices are sensitive towards gate input over-voltage, explains Rohm, which has developed a method to suppress the gate voltage overshoots and has implemented this into this the BD2311NVX-LB gate driver. The GaN device can be selected by adjusting the gate resistance based on application requirements. The BD2311NVX-LB gate driver also has a gate over-voltage suppression feature and can be used with the company’s EcoGaN products to simplify design.

“GaN devices are expected to be materials that can demonstrate performance in the high-frequency range more than silicon. In power switching applications such as DC/DC and AC/DC converters, and in lidar applications, the performance of GaN devices can contribute to smaller, more energy-efficient, and higher performance applications,” comments Professor Yue-Ming Hsin, from the Department of Electrical Engineering, National Central University, Taiwan.
Results from testing at the National Taipei University of Technology and Chang Gung University show that BD2311NVX had shorter rise time and lower ringing at 1MHz switching frequency for boost converters than other driver ICs. Reduced rise time helps maximise the reduction in switching losses.

The gate driver is for use in lidar drive circuits in industrial equipment or infrastructure monitoring, DC/DC converter circuits in data centres and base stations, wireless charging for portable devices and Class D audio amplifiers.

The IC is available from online distributors, Farnell, DigiKey and Mouser.