The MCF8329 is a 4.5-V to 60-V, three-phase brushless-DC gate driver IC with code-free sensorless field oriented control (FOC) for motor drive applications. The device provides three half-bridge gate drivers, each capable of driving high-side and low-side N-channel power MOSFETs. The device generates the correct gate drive voltages using an internal charge pump and enhances the high-side MOSFETs using a bootstrap circuit. A trickle charge pump is included to support 100% duty cycle. The gate drive architecture supports peak gate drive currents up to 1-A source and 2-A sink.

The internal sensorless FOC algorithm is highly configurable through register settings in a non-volatile EEPROM ranging from motor start-up behavior to closed loop operation, which allows for the device to operate stand-alone once the device has been configured. Motor current is sensed using an integrated current sense amplifier supporting a single external shunt resistor. The device can receive a speed command through a PWM input, analog voltage, variable frequency square wave, or I2C command. There are a large number of protection features integrated into the MCF8329, intended to protect the device, motor, and system against fault events.