Circuit for synchronous rectification with minimal reverse recovery losses

[0002] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/174,366, filed Jan. 4, 2000 and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/240,972, filed Oct. 18, 2000.

[0003] 1. Field of the Invention

[0004] The present invention relates to a circuit for synchronous rectification.

[0005] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0006] The use of synchronous rectification in ‘portable power’ applications to reduce losses and improve efficiency is well known. A typical circuit configuration is shown in FIG. 1, where semiconductor switches 1 and 2 are both N channel power MOSFETs that are driven by a ‘dual driver’ 3. In some configurations, power MOSFET 1 can be reversed from the configuration shown in FIG. 1, which requires some changes in the driver arrangement. Current trends in the industry are to increase the switching frequency of the apparatus to gain advantages in the reduction of magnetics and capacitor sizes, and to improve transient response.

[0007] One of the disadvantages of the current approach shown in FIG. 1 is that the reverse recovery of the diode in power MOSFET 2 (caused by the turn on of power MOSFET 1) causes switching loss every cycle and thus reduces the power handling capacity and efficiency of the circuit. The reverse recovery losses can be reduced to some extent by having an optimal deadtime in the driver between the turnoff of the power MOSFET 2 transistor channel and the turn ON of the power MOSFET 1 transistor channel. This poses practical difficulties due to the necessity of having to accommodate a wide variety of MOSFETs, layouts, temperatures and voltages.

[0008] The topology of the present invention overcomes the reverse recovery phenomenon discussed above by the fundamental means of not requiring a ‘deadtime’ at all and ensuring that only the channels of the transistors conduct, rather than the diodes.

[0009] Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention which refers to the accompanying drawings.

[0010] FIG. 1 shows a prior art circuit synchronous rectification circuit in which two N channel MOSFETs are driven by a dual gate driver.

[0011] FIG. 2 shows the synchronous rectification circuit of the present invention using a single gate driver coupled to an N channel MOSFET and a P channel MOSFET.

[0012] FIG. 3 shows the gate voltage with respect to the common sources as a function of time.

[0013] FIG. 4 shows an alternative arrangement of the switches and output filter.

[0014] As shown in FIG. 2, in the circuit configuration of the present invention, power MOSFET 2 is a P channel MOSFET rather than an N channel MOSFET. The driver 4 is a single channel driver rather than a dual driver. The single output node of the driver is connected to each of the two gates 5, 6. The driver utilizes a +ve and −ve drive technique to be able to drive each power MOSFET gate 5, 6 simultaneously positive and negative. Bootstrap diodes 7+ and 8− are used to charge the capacitors 9 and 10. When the voltage is +ve, power MOSFET 1 (N channel) conducts and when it is negative, power MOSFET 2 (P-channel) conducts.

[0015] As there is no deadtime involved, there is very little time period where the current has a chance to cease flowing in the channel and to begin flowing through the diode. Referring to FIG. 3, if one looks at the gate voltage with respect to the common sources, there is one transition which goes from −10V to +10 V (as an example). Both MOSFETs would be non-conducting when the voltage is below respective thresholds, which would be the band between −2V to +2V (again, as an example). The time spent in this region would be typically 5-10 ns and thus the diode conduction period if any would be small.

[0016] An alternative arrangement of the transistor switches and output filter is shown in FIG. 4. This arrangement is useful when the input battery voltage is such that it causes the freewheeling device to have a larger time of conduction. In the previous arrangement, the P channel device (power MOSFET 2) was conducting during this freewheeling time, and normally P channel devices have a larger Rdson for the same silicon area. The present arrangement shifts the position of the filter such that the N channel device (power MOSFET 1) conducts during this time and the P channel device (power MOSFET 2) is used during the ‘inductor charge cycle’.

[0017] Although the present invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments thereof, many other variations and modifications and other uses will become apparent to those skilled in the art. It is preferred, therefore, that the present invention be limited not by the specific disclosure herein, but only by the appended claims.