GaN FET driver IC supports 4V to 12.6V

Texas Instruments Inc. (TI) has unleashed a low-side gate driver for MOSFETs and gallium nitride (GaN) power field-effect transistors (FETs) in high-density synchronous rectifiers and power factor converters. The LM5114 claims to provide a complete isolated DC/DC conversion driver solution for high-power GaN FETs and MOSFETs in high-performance telecommunications, networking and data center applications.

The LM5114 uses independent sink and source outputs from a 5V power supply. It features 7.6A peak turn-off current capability needed in high-power applications where larger or paralleled FETs are used. The increased pull-down strength also enables it to drive GaN FETs properly. The independent source and sink outputs eliminate the need for a diode in the driver path and allows tight control of the rise and fall times.

TI’s LM5114 comes in a micro SMD package. It supports 4V to 12.6V and features 0.23Ω open-drain, pull-down, sink output to prevent unintended turn-on. The 7.6A/1.3A peak sink/source driver current maximizes change-in-voltage over change-in-time (DV/DT) immunity.

The device offers a matching delay time between inverting and non-inverting inputs to reduce dead time losses. A 12ns typical propagation delay enables high switching frequency while maintaining improved efficiency. It has up to 14V logic inputs, regardless of VCC, and operates from -40°C to 125°C.

The LM5114 is available in volume from TI in a 6-pin SOT-23 package and 6-pin LLP package with exposed pad. The suggested retail price is $0.58 in 1,000-unit quantities.


Texas Instruments Inc.