Electrical – MOSFET Driving /w PWM – Ultra Low Duty-Cycle

pwmswitch-mode-power-supply

I'm working on an adjustable (0.1 – 60VDC) direct off-line SMPS using UC2843.

Expected minimum output voltage is 0.1VDC in my application, so the minimum duty-cycle ratio (\$D_{min}\$) will be %0.08. Since the gate drive signal is not perfectly rectangular, it will have sharp triangular pulses at such low duty-cycle ratios. I think that it's impossible to drive a MOSFET with such a signal but I'm not sure. Gate capacitance of the MOSFET is about 1.5nF, by the way.

According to the datasheet, UC2843's rise- and fall-times (\$t_r\$ and \$t_f\$, respectively) are about 50ns typical. Putting minimum \$2t_r\$ between rise and fall for proper driving (which means \$t_{on-min} = 4t_r = 200ns)\$, required switching frequency will be about \$f_S=8.10^{-4}/200ns = 4kHz\$. 🙂 Of course the switching frequency cannot be that low. I'm planning that it will be around 100kHz.

Is it safe to drive a MOSFET with a "triangular" pulse? If not, what can you suggest?

Best Answer

You should be fine with such a low duty cycle and one that is triangular shaped. If the duty cycle were greater there would still be a ramp up and a ramp down but, at very low duty these will be the main losses so, providing your MOSFET can handle large duties then it should be perfectly ok at low duties.