Design to overcome high switching speeds and system size limitations

Analog Devices (ADI) has launched a small form factor isolated gate driver. The product is designed to address the high switching speeds and system size limitations required by power switch technologies such as SiC (silicon carbide) and GaN (gallium nitride).

At the same time, it is designed to reliably control the switching characteristics of IGBT (insulated gate bipolar transistor) and MOSFET configurations. The ADuM4120 and ADuM4121 product families combine ADI's proven iCoupler isolation technology with high-speed CMOS and transformer-embedded packaging technology to achieve extremely low propagation delay performance without compromising common mode transient immunity (CMTI) performance.

Existing devices with similar functions, such as optocouplers and pulse transformers, struggled to maintain CMTI performance while reducing latency. However, the stable ADuM4120 and ADuM4121 are designed to increase the switching speed of the new inverter architecture. For systems requiring multiple power switches, using isolated gate drivers in such small SOIC packages minimizes PCB placement space, thereby reducing the specifications required for cooling.

In addition, due to its small size, the gate driver can be mounted close to the power switch, which reduces parasitic inductance between the driver and the switch. The ADuM4120 and ADuM4121, operating at high temperature ranges and operating voltages, are suitable for improving energy efficiency, timing performance, and safety, making them suitable for solar inverter, motor controller, and industrial inverter applications.