JAJSME3B March 2022 – January 2023 UCC21737-Q1
PRODUCTION DATA
The active Miller clamp feature is important to prevent the false turn-on while the driver is in the OFF state. In applications in which the device can be in synchronous rectifier mode, the body diode conducts the current during the dead time while the device is in the OFF state, the drain-source or collector-emitter voltage remains the same and the dV/dt happens when the other power semiconductor of the phase leg turns on. The low internal pulldown impedance of the UCC21737-Q1 can provide a strong pull down to hold OUTL to VEE. However, external gate resistance is usually adopted to limit the dV/dt. The Miller effect during the turn-on transient of the other power semiconductor can cause a voltage drop on the external gate resistor, which boosts the gate-source or gate-emitter voltage. If the voltage on VGS or VGE is higher than the threshold voltage of the power semiconductor, a shoot-through can happen and cause catastrophic damage. The active Miller clamp feature of the UCC21737-Q1 drives an external MOSFET, which connects to the device gate. The external MOSFET is triggered when the gate voltage is lower than VCLMPTH, which is 2 V above VEE, and creates a low impedance path to avoid the false turn-on issue.