ROHM develops the industry's smallest gate driver with built-in insulation element for automotive use

ROHM Co., Ltd. (headquartered in Kyoto, Japan), a well-known Japanese semiconductor manufacturer, has developed the gate driver "BM6103FV-C" with built-in insulation elements, which is optimal as a driving element for IGBTs and power MOSFETs in the inverter circuits of electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid vehicles (HEVs).

This product combines ROHM's original BiCDMOS technology with the newly developed on-chip transformer process technology. As a gate driver with built-in insulation elements, it is the industry's smallest* package, which helps to miniaturize inverter circuits. In addition, compared with the conventional photocoupler method, it can significantly reduce power consumption, and because it has all the necessary protection functions and quality requirements, it can reduce the workload during design.

In addition, it supports high-speed switching of SiC (Silicon Carbide) power MOSFETs, which is highly anticipated as a next-generation power semiconductor, and will greatly contribute to the realization of a new generation of electric vehicles with higher efficiency and lower power consumption.

The production base is at ROHM Integrated Systems (Thailand) Co., Ltd. (Thailand), and it is planned to start selling samples (sample price: 1,000 yen) in June 2012, and start mass production at a scale of 10,000 units per month in September 2012.

※ According to a survey conducted by ROHM (as of May 22, 2012)

In recent years, with the increasing popularity of EVs and HEVs, there is a growing demand for miniaturization of the inverter circuit of the power unit in order to further improve performance. On the one hand, each vehicle-mounted inverter generally has six gate drivers built in, and in order to achieve the miniaturization of the inverter circuit, the miniaturization of the gate driver is imperative. In addition, in the harsh driving environment unique to vehicles, in order to achieve a safe inverter circuit, not only various protection functions are required, but also external parts such as photocouplers must be equipped as insulation components to prevent the driver from electric shock. In this case, the demand for a small gate driver with built-in insulation components is increasing.

On the other hand, when SiC devices are used in inverter circuits, which are expected to be built into next-generation EVs/HEVs, solving the noise caused by their high-speed switching performance has become a major issue.

This time, Rohm used its original micro-machining technology to develop an on-chip transformer process, and then successfully developed a small gate driver with built-in insulation components. No external parts are required, and by adopting a small package, the installation area is reduced by about 50% compared to conventional products. In addition, since all the protection functions required for the on-board inverter circuit are built-in, it not only helps to miniaturize the inverter, but also greatly helps to reduce the design burden.

In addition, regarding the noise generated when SiC devices and modules are built into the inverter circuit, we developed a combination of our own SiC devices and modules, which we pride ourselves on being "the most advanced in the industry," and successfully solved this problem with an optimal circuit design, making this the industry's only gate driver with a built-in insulation device that supports SiC.

ROHM has positioned its power device business, led by SiC, as one of its development strategies, and started mass production of "full SiC" power modules for the first time in the world in March 2012. In the future, ROHM will continue to promote the development of gate drivers that maximize the characteristics of SiC, and will also promote the development of SiC-IPM (intelligent power modules) and other products to continuously improve the lineup of SiC-related products.

＜Features＞

1) ROHM's original coreless transformer technology with built-in 2,500Vrms insulation element

2) Small package

Compared with conventional products, SSOP-B20W (6.5mm×8.1mm H＝Max 2.01mm) reduces the mounting area by more than 50%

3) Achieve safety design by integrating all protection functions

All protection functions required for automotive inverter circuits are built in: Miller clamp function, fault output function, malfunction prevention function during low voltage, thermal protection function, short-circuit protection function, and soft shutdown function during short-circuit protection.

《Main Specifications》

4) Also supports high-speed switching of SiC

The only product in the industry that supports SiC component circuits. SiC produced by ROHM can ensure stable driving at a maximum output of 800V and 400A.

＜Terminology＞

・IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor)

Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor. A bipolar transistor with a MOSFET built into the gate.

・MOSFET (Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor)

Metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor is the most commonly used structure among FETs. It is used as a switching element.