SLOA328 December   2022 DRV8262 , DRV8462

PRODUCTION DATA  

  1.   Abstract
  2.   Trademarks
  3. 1Introduction
    1. 1.1 Gate Driver
    2. 1.2 Integrated FET Driver
  4. 2Integrated FET Driver vs. Gate Driver
    1. 2.1 Solution Size
    2. 2.2 External Bill of Materials
    3. 2.3 Thermal Performance
  5. 3Summary
  6. 4References

2 Integrated FET Driver vs. Gate Driver

There are several points to consider when selecting between an integrated FET driver and a gate driver -

  • Integrating the FETs can often increase the IC package size. However, without the need of external FETs, the overall solution size decreases. Therefore, integrated FET drivers have significantly higher power density than gate driver solutions.
  • With the FETs in the same IC package as the controller, complete testing of the whole driver during production assures the device will perform as expected.
  • Another advantage to integrated FET topology is that the board layout and the overall design process can be more simple.
  • However, integrated FET driver topology is not optimized for spreading power dissipation. For external FET gate drivers, having the flexibility of selecting FETs and driver independently allows handling of higher current.

Some of these points are explained in greater detail in the following subsections.