Electronic – Push-Pull driver for low side mosfet — is it a good idea

driverhigh voltagemosfettransistors

I want to build an H-bridge to control a 36V dc motor (or possibly 48V but lets stick to 36V for now)

The electronics that will control the H-Bridge (logic, etc) will run from a 12V very-small-like-really-really-low-current source, and I have a bit of a problem regarding the driving of the low-side (switching) mosfets.

I obviously can't run them on my 12V power supply, so I have to use the 36V supply which of course is too much for my mosfets! (maximum Vgs is about 20 volts or so)

What I have come up with is this:

Sample of my idea

I want to know if such an idea will work, and if that's the case, which of the two pull-down resistors you would prefer? (A or B)

I know that adding the B resistor will cause the upper (NPN) transistor to always be in forward active mode and thus always dissipate power, whereas by adding the A resistor the upper transistor will be in cutoff once the gate capacitance of the mosfet will be fully charged.

For some reason I would feel better if the pull-down was attached directly to the mosfet but maybe I am just paranoid…

Best Answer

What if you dispense with the buffer transistors and add some capacitance to your 12V rail?

The continuous current rating will remain the same, but a few uF should prop it up for the brief surges required to charge the gates.

There's also the output current rating of your logic to consider, mostly the peak rating.