New Industry Products

Linear Tech Introduces 100V High Side/Low Side N-Channel High Speed MOSFET Driver

June 16, 2008 by Jeff Shepard

Linear Technology Corp. announced the LTC4446 – a high frequency, high input supply voltage (100V) MOSFET driver designed to drive upper and lower N-Channel power MOSFETs in a 2-transistor forward converter. This driver, combined with power MOSFETs and one of Linear Technology’s dc-dc controllers form what is described as a complete high efficiency 2-transistor forward converter or can be configured as a fast acting high voltage dc switch.

This driver can source up to 2.5A with a 1.2Ω pull-down impedance for driving the top MOSFET and can source 3A with a 0.55Ω pull-down impedance for the synchronous MOSFET, making it suitable for driving high gate capacitance, high current MOSFETs. The LTC4446 can also drive multiple MOSFETs in parallel for higher current applications. The fast 8ns rise time, 5ns fall time of the top MOSFET, and 6ns rise time, 3ns fall time of the bottom MOSFET when driving a 1,000pF load minimize switching losses.

The LTC4446 is configured for two supply-independent inputs. The high-side input logic signal is internally level-shifted to the bootstrap supply, which may function at up to 114V above ground. Furthermore, this part drives both upper and lower MOSFET gates over a range of 7.2 to 13.5V.

The LTC4446EMS8 and LTC4446IMS8 are offered in a thermally enhanced MSOP-8 package with prices starting at $1.69 for 1000-piece quantities.