Date: 10/05/2010

High voltage FET driver with on-device digital electrical isolation

Analog Devices has introduced a 4 Amps dual-channel isolated gate driver integrated with ADI's iCoupler digital isolation feature for use in smaller dc-dc power supply modules.

Analog Devices says, discrete offerings use separate components for isolation and gate drive, including large, difficult to use pulse transformers and optocouplers that provide poor performance and degrade over time. The new ADuM3220 dual-channel gate driver offers better propagation delay (60 ns max) and channel-to-channel skew (5 ns max) than competitive products, along with excellent reliability associated with CMOS-based digital isolation.

"Working closely with our power supply customers, we learned that many designers use discrete isolators and gate drivers, which can take up quite a lot of board space," said Peter Henry, vice president, Power Management Products, Analog Devices. "ADI's iCoupler digital isolation technology integrates the gate driver function with two channels of high-performance digital isolation technology; this radically simplifies design and reduces design costs."

Other key features of ADuM3220 are:
Operates with an input supply voltage ranging from 3.0 V to 5.5 V
Each output may be operated from 7 V to 18 V to support typical gate driver voltages for synchronous dc-to-dc converters.
The outputs of the ADuM3220 dual-channel gate driver default to a logic-low state, preventing both gate drivers from being on at the same time and eliminating potential damage of the high-voltage FETs.
ADuM3220 operates in the temperature range of -40ºC to 125ºC.

ADI says in comparison to gate drivers employing high-voltage level-translation methodologies, the ADuM3220 dual-channel gate driver offers the benefit of true galvanic isolation between the input and each output, enabling voltage translation and safety isolation across the isolation barrier. The ADuM3220 has 2.5 kVrms isolation rating with UL (Underwriters Laboratories), IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) and VDE (Verband der Elektrotechnik) certifications pending.


For more information, visit http://www.analog.com/pr/ADuM3220.

Availability: Now
Price: Each $1.84 for 1K pieces
Pacakge: 8-lead SOIC