The most important consideration for gate drive transformers is saturation. The average voltage across the transformer must be 0, or the average current in the primary loop can increase until the transformer saturates. When the transformer saturates, the gate drive signal can be distorted and cease to function as intended.

The requirement for the average voltage across the transformer to be 0 imposes a limitation on this push-pull topology; the duty cycle of the half-bridge must be nearly symmetrical. There is some flexibility because the primary resistance dissipates excess DC current due to duty cycle offsets, but large duty ratios can cause saturation unless circuitry is added. This duty limitation makes gate drive transformer circuits less attractive for duty-controlled topologies such as buck converters. However, phase-controlled topologies such as phase-shifted-full-bridges (PSFB) and frequency-controlled topologies such as LLCs can still operate within the symmetrical duty limitation.

A DC blocking capacitor on the primary with a corresponding DC restore circuit on the secondary side enables driving of duty-controlled topologies. However, the DC restore circuit requires extra design and components to achieve. See section 7.1 in Fundamentals of MOSFET and IGBT Gate Driver Circuits for more information about the DC restoration circuit. Because alternate designs are available, gate drive transformers are more common in topologies which work well with symmetrical duty cycles such as LLCs and PSFBs.