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Understanding Low-Side MOSFET Drive Circuit with Q3 Level Conversion and MCU Control

vbsemi 294 2
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  • #1 21217028
    vbsemi
    Level 2  



    Although MOS is voltage driven, there is a large junction capacitance between the gate and the source. When it is turned on, a large charging current is required, and when it is turned off, a large discharge current is required. Therefore, a low-impedance charging and discharging path is required.

    This is a low-side MOS tube drive circuit. The input end is composed of Q3 and the periphery using a common base connection to form a level

    conversion circuit. The control input is received from ⑤, and the control input can be generated by the MCU. The input 3V is converted into an output 12V. Since Q1 Q2 is a complementary emitter follower, there is no problem of Q1 Q2 turning on at the same time to short-circuit the power supply. To prevent accidents, it is a safe practice to connect a resistor in series at the output end.
    Circuit diagram of a low-side MOS lamp driver.
    The time required for MOS to turn on from off to on is longer than the time from on to off. Reducing R1 can shorten the time from off to on. But it is not unlimited because the current pulling capacity of the driving source is limited.
    Graph of transient analysis for a low-side MOSFET driver showing output voltages and current.
    The graph shows transient analysis for a low-side MOSFET driver, illustrating voltage and current changes.
    When the control voltage changes from low to high, there is a 3V step at the beginning of the gate voltage. Analysis shows that it is caused by the 3.3 bias voltage feeding through the BC junction after Q3 is turned off.

    In the switching state, the MOS tube needs to be closed and opened as quickly as possible, and this circuit can effectively control it.
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  • #3 21217317
    sigwa18
    Level 43  
    Exactly yet specialised circuits have a photoelement at the input, meaning we have galvanic isolation from the voltage that the MOSFET controls. Particularly useful when controlling from a microcontroller, which is quite sensitive to higher voltages on I/O ports. The second advantage is that you can use negative voltages to turn off/overload the gate faster.
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