New Industry Products

TI Extends Family of GaN FET driver ICs with New Gate Driver

February 02, 2012 by Jeff Shepard

Texas Instruments Inc. (TI) introduced a low-side gate driver for use with MOSFETs and Gallium-Nitride (GaN) power field-effect transistors (FETs) in high-density power converters. The new LM5114 drives GaN FETs and MOSFETs in low-side applications, such as synchronous rectifiers and power factor converters. Together with the LM5113, described as the industry’s first 100V half-bridge GaN FET driver announced in 2011, the family provides a complete isolated dc-dc conversion driver solution for high-power GaN FETs and MOSFETs used in high-performance telecom, networking and data center applications.

The LM5114 drives both standard MOSFETs and GaN FETs by using independent sink and source outputs from a 5V supply voltage. It features a high 7.6A peak turn-off current capability needed in high-power applications where larger or paralleled FETs are used. The increased pull-down strength also enables it to drive GaN FETs properly. The independent source and sink outputs eliminate the need for a diode in the driver path and allows tight control of the rise and fall times.

The LM5114 is available in volume now from TI and its authorized distributors. Offered in a 6-pin SOT-23 package and 6-pin LLP package with exposed pad, the suggested retail price is $0.58 in 1,000-unit quantities.