Implementing an Isolated

Half-Bridge Gate Driver

By Brian Kennedy
Many applications, ranging from isolated dc-to-dc power supply
modules that call for high power density and efficiency, to solar
inverters, where high isolation voltage and long-term reliability
are critical, use isolated half-bridge gate drivers to control large
amounts of power. This article will discuss details of these design
concepts to illustrate the ability of isolated half-bridge gate driver
ICs to provide high performance in a small package.
A basic half-bridge driver with optocoupler isolation, shown in
Figure 1, controls output power by driving the gates of high- and
low-side N-channel MOSFETs (or IGBTs) with signals of opposite
polarity. The drivers must have low output impedance, to reduce
conduction losses, and fast switchingto reduce switching losses.
For accuracy and efficiency, the high- and low-side drivers need
very closely matched timing characteristics in order to reduce the
dead time when one switch of the half bridge turns off before the
second switch turns on.

bridgeincreasing the physical solution size. Note also that

the optocouplers are manufactured separately, even if two are
packaged together, limiting the ability to match the two channels.
Allowing for this mismatch will increase the required dead time
between switching one channel off and turning the other channel
on, reducing efficiency.

OPTOCOUPLER

VBUS

GATE
DRIVER
VDD1

SHIELD

OPTOCOUPLER

VS

GATE
DRIVER

POUT

VDD2

SHIELD

VBUS
HIGH-SIDE
DRIVER

Figure 2. Dual optocoupler half-bridge gate driver.

VDD1

LEVEL
SHIFT
OPTOCOUPLER

VS
LOW-SIDE
DRIVER

POUT

VDD2

Pulse Transformer Gate Driver

SHIELD

Figure 1. High-voltage half-bridge gate driver.

As shown, a conventional approach to implementing this function
uses an optocoupler for isolation, followed by a high-voltage gatedriver IC. A potential drawback of this circuit is that the single
isolated input channel relies on the high-voltage driver circuit
for the needed channel-to-channel timing match, as well as the
required dead time. Another concern is that high-voltage gate
drivers do not have galvanic isolation; instead, they rely on the
ICs junction isolation to separate the high-side drive voltage from
the low-side drive voltage. Parasitic inductance in the circuit can
cause the output voltage, VS , to go below ground during a lowside switching event. When this happens, the high-side driver can
latch up and become permanently damaged.

Optocoupler Gate Driver

Next, consider circuits where the galvanic isolation is provided by

transformer coupling. Their lower propagation delays and more
accurate timing can provide a speed advantage over optocouplers.
In Figure 3, a pulse transformer is used; it can operate at the speeds
often needed for half-bridge gate-driver applications (up to 1 MHz).
A gate-driver IC can be used to deliver the high currents needed
for charging the capacitive MOSFET gates. Here, the gate driver
differentially drives the primary of the pulse transformer; the
two secondary windings drive each gate of a half bridge. In this
application, pulse transformers have the advantage of not requiring
isolated power supplies to drive the secondary side MOSFETs.
VBUS

POUT

DRIVER

Another approach, shown in Figure 2, avoids the problems of

high-side to low-side interactions by using two optocouplers
and two gate drivers to establish galvanic isolation between the
outputs. The gate-driver circuit is often included in the same
package as the optocoupler, so two separate optocoupler-gatedriver ICs are commonly required to complete the isolated half

Analog Dialogue 46-11 Back Burner, November (2012)

The optocouplers response speed is limited by the capacitance

of the primary side light-emitting diode (LED); while driving
the output to speeds up to 1 MHz, it will also be limited by its
propagation delay (500 ns max) and slow rise and fall times
(100 ns max). To run an optocoupler near its maximum speed,
the LED current must be increased to more than 10 mA,
consuming more power and reducing the optocouplers lifetime
and reliabilityespecially in the high-temperature environments
common in solar inverter and power supply applications.

Figure 3. Pulse transformer half-bridge gate driver.

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However, a problem can occur when large transient gate-drive

currents flowing in the inductive coils cause ringing. This can
switch the gate on and off when not intended, damaging the
MOSFETs. Another limitation of pulse transformers is that they
may not work well in applications that require signals with more
than 50% duty cycle, as they can deliver only ac signals, and the
core flux must be reset each half cycle to maintain a volt-second
balance. A final difficulty: the magnetic core and isolated windings
of the pulse transformer require a relatively large package which,
combined with the driver IC and other discrete components,
creates a solution that may be too large for many high-density
applications.

Digital Isolator Gate Driver

Consider now applying a digital isolator in an isolated half-bridge

gate driver. The digital isolator in Figure 4 uses a standard CMOS
integrated-circuit process with metal layers to form transformer
coils separated by polyimide insulation. This combination achieves
more than 5 kV rms (1-minute rating) isolation, which can be used
in robust isolated power supply and inverter applications.
TRANSFORMER COILS

20m POLYIMIDE INSULATION

WITHSTANDS > 5kV ISOLATION
CMOS OUTPUT DRIVERS

Figure 4. Digital isolator with transformer isolation.

As shown in Figure 5, the digital isolator eliminates the LED used
in an optocouplerand its associated aging problemsconsumes
far less power, and is more reliable. Galvanic isolation (dashed
lines) is provided between input and output, and between the two
outputs, eliminating high-side to low-side interactions. The output
drivers feature a low output impedance to reduce the conduction
lossesand a fast switching time to reduce the switching losses.
VBUS

ADuM3223/ADuM4223
VDD1
VIA

VDD1

POUT

VIB

Figure 5. Digitally isolated 4-A gate driver.

Unlike an optocoupler design, the high- and low-side digital

isolators are manufactured on a single integrated circuit, with
inherently matched outputs for better efficiency. Note that the
high-voltage gate driver integrated circuit shown in Figure 1 has
additional propagation delay in the level-shifting circuit, so it
cannot match channel-to-channel timing characteristics as well
as the digital isolator. Furthermore, integration of the gate drivers
with isolation in a single IC package reduces the footprint of the
solution to a minimum.

Common-Mode Transient Immunity

In many half-bridge gate-driver applications for high-voltage
power supplies, very fast transients can occur across the switching
elements. In these applications, a rapidly changing voltage
transient (high dV/dt) that capacitively couples across an isolation
barrier can cause logic transition errors across the barrier. In an
isolated half-bridge driver application, this could turn on both
switches in a cross-conduction episode that could destroy the
switches. Any parasitic capacitance across the isolation barrier
tends to be a coupling path for common-mode transients.
Optocouplers need to have very sensitive receivers to detect the
small amount of light transmitted across their isolation barrier,
and their outputs can be upset by large common-mode transients.
The optocoupler sensitivity to common-mode transient voltages
can be reduced by the addition of a shield between the LED and
the receiver; a technique used in most optocoupler gate drivers.
The shield can improve the common-mode transient immunity
(CMTI) from a standard optocoupler rating of less than 10 kV/s
to as much as 25 kV/s for an optocoupler gate driver. This rating
may be suitable for many gate-driver applications, but CMTI of
50 kV/s or more may be needed for power supplies with large
transient voltages, and for solar inverter applications.
Digital isolators can deliver higher signal levels to their receivers
and withstand very high levels of common-mode transients without data errors. Transformer-based isolators, as four-terminal
differential devices, can provide low differential impedance to the
signal and high common-mode impedance to the noisewhich
can result in excellent CMTI. On the other hand, digital isolators
that use capacitive coupling to create a changing electric field
and transmit data across the isolation barrier are two-terminal
devices, so the noise and the signal share the same transmission
path. With a two-terminal device, the signal frequencies need
to be well above the expected frequency of the noise so that the
barrier capacitance presents low impedance to the signal and
high impedance to the noise. When the common-mode noise level
becomes large enough to overwhelm the signal, it can upset the
data at the isolator output. An example of a capacitor-based isolator data upset is shown in Figure 6, where the output (Channel 4,
green line) has glitched low for 6 ns during a common-mode
transient of only 10 kV/s.

Analog Dialogue 46-11 Back Burner, November (2012)

T
3
4

: 50.0mV
@: 80.0mV
: 5.00ns
@: 0.00s
CH1 RISE
5.978ns
1

CH1 20.0mV
CH3 5.00V

CH4 5.00V

M10.0ns
T 47.40%

A CH1

high reliability, and better overall performance than optocouplers

or pulse transformers. Each output may be continuously operated
up to 565 V PEAK relative to the input, thereby supporting low-side
switching to negative voltages. The differential voltage between
the high side and low side may be as high as 700 V PEAK . Switching
at up to 1 MHz, the outputs can provide 4-A peak currents. The
CMOS-compatible inputs provide 50-kV/s common-mode
transient immunity. The drivers operate with a 3.0-V to 5.5-V
input supply, providing compatibility with lower voltage systems.
Specified from 40C to +125C, they are available in 16-lead
SOIC packages. Priced at $1.70 in 1000s, the ADuM3223 provides
3-kV rms isolation in a narrow body. Priced at $2.03 in 1000s, the
ADuM4223 provides 5-kV rms isolation in a wide body.

72.0mV
VIA 1

16

VDDA

15

VOA

VDD1 3

14

GNDA

GND1 4

13

NC

DISABLE 5

12

NC

NC 6

11

VDDB

10

VOB

Figure 6. Capacitor-based digital isolator with CMTI

of <10 kV/s.
This data was taken merely at the threshold level of upsetting the
capacitor-based isolator transient; a much larger transient could
cause the upset to last for a much longer time, which could make
the switching of the MOSFETs unstable. In contrast, transformerbased digital isolators have been shown to withstand commonmode transients in excess of 100 kV/s without a data upset at
the output (Figure 7).

ADuM3223/
ADuM4223

VIB 2

NC 7

ENCODE

ENCODE

DECODE

DECODE

VDD1 8

GNDB

NC = NO CONNECT
T

Figure 8. ADuM3223/ADuM4223 block diagram.

Summary

: 532mV
@: 700mV
: 5.20ns
@: 5.00s
CH1 RISE
5.807ns
1

For isolated half-bridge gate-driver applications, the integrated

transformer-based digital isolator has been shown to offer
numerous advantages over optocoupler- and pulse-transformerbased designs. Size and design complexity are dramatically reduced
through integration, greatly improving timing. Robustness is
improved through galvanic isolation of the output drivers, and
transformer coupling results in higher CMTI.

References

CH1 200mV
CH3 5.00V

CH4 5.00V

M10.0ns
T 42.60%

A CH1

164mV

Figure 7. Transformer-based digital isolator with

CMTI of 100 kV/s (ADuM140x).

Isolated Half-Bridge Drivers Provide 4-A Peak Output Currents

The ADuM3223/ADuM4223 isolated half-bridge gate drivers,

shown in Figure 8, use iCoupler technology to provide
independent, isolated outputs for driving the gates of the highside and low-side IGBT and MOSFET devices used in motor
control, switching power supplies, and industrial inverters.
Combining high-speed CMOS with monolithic transformer
technology, these isolation components provide precise timing,

Analog Dialogue 46-11 Back Burner, November (2012)

Coughlin, Chris. Technical Article, Common-Mode Transient

Immunity.
A version of this article was published as Technical Article MS-2318,
Design Fundamentals of Implementing an Isolated Half-Bridge Gate
Driver, May 2012.

Author

Brian Kennedy [brian.kennedy@analog.com] is

an applications engineer with the Digital Isolator
Group at Analog Devices. He has been with ADI
since April 2008 and is responsible for power
supply digital isolation products. He has a Bachelor
of Science in Electrical Engineering (BSEE) from
State University of New York (Buffalo).