CN215344364U - Power device drive circuit and electronic equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

The application provides a power device driving circuit, which comprises a plurality of pull-up and/or pull-down units, wherein each pull-up and/or pull-down unit comprises a plurality of pull-up or pull-down transistors with the same type; a pull-up and/or pull-down selection unit for activating one or more of a plurality of pull-up or pull-down units, the activated pull-up unit providing a pull-up signal to the power device, and the activated pull-down unit providing a pull-down signal to the power device; the tested unit comprises a tested transistor, the model of the tested transistor is the same as that of the pull-up or pull-down transistor, and the tested transistor and the conducted pull-up and/or pull-down transistor receive the same bias; the measuring unit is coupled to the tested unit, detects the attribute of the tested transistor and compares the attribute with a preset threshold value; and the regulating and controlling unit is coupled to the measuring unit and the pull-up or pull-down unit and is used for controlling the conduction number of the pull-up and/or pull-down transistors based on the output result of the measuring unit. The application also provides an electronic device comprising the driving circuit.

Description

Power device drive circuit and electronic equipment

Technical Field

The application belongs to the field of electrical control, and particularly relates to a driving circuit of a power device and electronic equipment.

Background

Power devices, such as IGBTs, SiC, or power MOSFETs, are widely used in current electric products, such as electric vehicles and the like. Devices, such as transistors, used in a driving circuit of a power device may generate relatively large fluctuation in performance (such as resistance) due to temperature change and errors in a manufacturing process, so that driving capability of the driving circuit built by the devices may generate large fluctuation, and normal use of products may be affected. Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the variation of the on-resistance of a pull-up or pull-down unit in a power device driving circuit with temperature and process. As shown, as the temperature increases, the on-resistance of the transistor gradually increases; and due to process errors, there are properties of the same device manufactured in different batches that cannot be ignored.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

The present application is directed to the above problem, and provides a power device driving circuit, including a plurality of pull-up and/or pull-down units, each of which includes a plurality of pull-up transistors of the same type or pull-down transistors of the same type; a pull-up and/or pull-down selection unit respectively coupled to the pull-up or pull-down unit to activate one or more of the plurality of pull-up or pull-down units, the activated pull-up unit providing a pull-up signal to the power device, and the activated pull-down unit providing a pull-down signal to the power device; the tested unit comprises a tested transistor, the model of the tested transistor is the same as that of the pull-up or pull-down transistor, and the tested transistor and the conducted pull-up and/or pull-down transistor receive the same bias; the measuring unit is coupled to the tested unit, detects the attribute of the tested transistor and compares the attribute with a preset threshold value; and the regulating and controlling unit is coupled to the measuring unit and the pull-up or pull-down unit and controls the conduction number of the pull-up and/or pull-down transistors based on the output result of the measuring unit.

In particular, the measuring unit comprises a mirror component, which is coupled to the transistor to be tested and is configured to form a mirror signal for the current or voltage representing the property of the transistor to be tested; a comparison component coupled to the mirror component and configured to receive the mirror signal and compare it with the preset threshold, and send the comparison result to the regulation and control unit.

Specifically, the first poles of the pull-down transistors are coupled to each other and configured to output a power device pull-down signal at the output terminal of the driving circuit, the second poles of the pull-down transistors are coupled to each other and configured to receive a power device low-level signal, the control poles of the pull-down transistors are coupled to the respective pull-down transistor driving circuits, the pull-down transistor driving circuits are configured to receive pull-down transistor driving circuit power signals, and the control ends of the pull-down transistor driving circuits are respectively coupled to the corresponding output terminals of the regulating unit; the control electrode of the transistor to be tested is coupled to the transistor driving circuit to be tested, the transistor driving circuit to be tested is configured to receive a power supply signal of the pull-down transistor driving circuit, the second electrode of the transistor to be tested is coupled to the second electrode of the pull-down transistor, and the first electrode and the second electrode of the transistor to be tested are respectively coupled to the measuring unit.

In particular, the mirror component includes a first transistor, a second transistor, and a first detection resistor, first poles of the first and second transistors are configured to receive a calibration circuit positive power supply signal, control poles of the first and second transistors and a second pole of the first transistor are coupled to a first pole of the transistor under test, and a second pole of the second transistor is coupled to a second pole of the transistor under test through the first detection resistor; the number of the pull-down transistors is X, and X is an integer greater than or equal to 2; the comparison component comprises X-1 comparators, the preset threshold comprises X-1 reference signals to form X intervals, the 1 st interval corresponds to the condition that X pull-down transistors are all conducted, the number of the conducted pull-down transistors is reduced along with the increase of the serial number of the intervals, and the X interval corresponds to the condition that only one pull-down transistor is conducted; the positive input end of each comparator is configured to receive the voltage drop across the first detection resistor, the negative input end of each comparator is configured to receive a corresponding reference signal, and the output end of each comparator is respectively coupled to the regulation unit.

In particular, the first poles of the pull-up transistors are coupled to each other and configured to receive a power device positive power supply signal, the second poles of the pull-up transistors are coupled to each other and configured to output a pull-up signal at the output terminal of the driving circuit, the control poles of the pull-up transistors are coupled to respective pull-up transistor driving circuits, the pull-up transistor driving circuits are configured to receive pull-up transistor driving circuit power supply signals, and the control terminals of the pull-up transistor driving circuits are respectively coupled to corresponding output terminals of the regulation unit; the control electrode of the transistor to be measured is coupled to the transistor driving circuit to be measured, the transistor driving circuit to be measured is configured to receive a power supply signal of the pull-up transistor driving circuit, the first electrode of the transistor to be measured is coupled to the first electrode of the pull-up transistor, and the first electrode and the second electrode of the transistor to be measured are respectively coupled to the measuring unit.

In particular, the mirror unit includes a third transistor, a fourth transistor and a second detection resistor, the second poles of the third and fourth transistors are configured to receive a calibration circuit negative power supply signal, the control poles of the third and fourth transistors and the first pole of the third transistor are coupled to the second pole of the transistor to be tested, and the first pole of the fourth transistor is coupled to the first pole of the transistor to be tested through the second detection resistor; the number of the pull-up transistors is Y, and Y is an integer greater than or equal to 2; the comparison assembly comprises Y-1 comparators, the preset threshold comprises Y-1 reference signals to form Y intervals, the 1 st interval corresponds to the condition that Y pull-up transistors are all conducted, the number of the pull-up transistors conducted is reduced along with the increase of the serial number of the intervals, and the Y th interval corresponds to the condition that only one pull-up transistor is conducted; the positive input end of each comparator is configured to receive the voltage drop across the second detection resistor, the negative input end of each comparator is configured to receive a corresponding reference signal, and the output end of each comparator is respectively coupled to the regulation unit.

An electronic device is provided that includes a power device, and a power device driving circuit of any of the preceding coupled to the power device.

Drawings

Embodiments are shown and described with reference to the drawings. These drawings are provided to illustrate the basic principles and thus only show the aspects necessary for understanding the basic principles. The figures are not to scale. In the drawings, like reference numerals designate similar features.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the variation of the on-resistance of a pull-up or pull-down unit in a power device driving circuit with temperature and process;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a pull-down driving circuit block of a power device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3a is a schematic diagram of a power device pull-down driver circuit according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3b is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation of a pull-down driver circuit of a power device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4a is a schematic diagram of a power device pull-up driver circuit module according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4b is a schematic diagram of a power device pull-up driver circuit according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5a is a schematic diagram of a power device driver circuit module according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5b is a schematic diagram of a power device driver circuit block according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram showing changes of on-resistance of a pull-up or pull-down unit in a power device driving circuit adopting the architecture of the present application with temperature and process; and

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a power device driver circuit architecture according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. The accompanying drawings illustrate, by way of example, specific embodiments in which the present application can be practiced. The illustrated embodiments are not intended to be exhaustive of all embodiments according to the application. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural or logical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present application. The following detailed description, therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present application is defined by the appended claims.

Techniques, methods, and apparatus known to those of ordinary skill in the relevant art may not be discussed in detail but are intended to be part of the specification where appropriate. For the connection between the units in the drawings, for convenience of description only, it means that at least the units at both ends of the connection are in communication with each other, and is not intended to limit the inability of communication between the units that are not connected.

In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof and in which is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments of the application. In the drawings, like numerals describe substantially similar components throughout the different views. Various specific embodiments of the present application are described in sufficient detail below to enable those skilled in the art to practice the teachings of the present application. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural, logical or electrical changes may be made to the embodiments of the present application.

The high level is described as the active level and the low level is described as the inactive level. Of course, embodiments complementary to this also belong to the scope of protection of the present application.

The transistors in the following description may be MOS transistors, the first and second poles representing the drain or source, and the control pole representing the gate. The transistors in the following description may also be bipolar transistors, the first and second poles representing the collector or emitter and the control pole representing the base. The following embodiments in the present application take NMOS transistors as examples for description. It is within the scope of the present disclosure to utilize PMOS transistors to construct the corresponding power device driver circuits.

In order to eliminate or reduce the influence of temperature on a power device driving circuit in a product use scene and eliminate or reduce the negative influence of device attribute errors caused by errors of a preparation process on the driving capability of the power device driving circuit, the application provides the power device driving circuit which is accurate in phase, flexible and controllable. The scheme provided by the application provides a driving capability of pulling up or pulling down of the power device which can not change obviously along with the temperature change on the premise of not influencing the work of the original power device driving circuit and not obviously improving the manufacturing cost, thereby improving the stability and robustness of the driving circuit.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a pull-down driving circuit module of a power device according to an embodiment of the application. As shown, the driving circuit 20 may include a pull-down unit 201 configured to provide a power device driving signal VGATE to the power device for pulling down the power device to a power device low level VEE. According to one embodiment, the pull-down unit 201 may include a plurality of pull-down transistors, for example, three pull-down transistors Q1-Q3 of the same model. The "same model" in this application means that the transistors are the same in size and the manufacturing process is the same. According to one embodiment, the control electrode of each pull-down transistor may also be coupled to a respective pull-down transistor drive circuit DRV. According to one embodiment, since the pull-down transistors are identical to each other, the respective driving circuits DRV are also identical.

According to one embodiment, first poles of Q1-Q3 are coupled together and coupled to the driver circuit output for providing a pull-down signal representative of the power device. According to one embodiment, the gates of Q1-Q3 are each coupled to a respective pull-down transistor drive circuit DRV, with the respective DRV of the three transistors being each configured to receive a pull-down transistor drive signal. According to one embodiment, the second poles of Q1-Q3 are coupled together to receive the power device low VEE signal (i.e., the pull-down operation will pass this low to the power device).

Since the pull-down transistors Q1-Q3 are not convenient to detect their performance when they are in operation, the present application provides a calibration circuit specifically in the driving circuit 20, which may include the unit under test 202.

According to one embodiment, the unit under test 202 may include a transistor Q4, which is the same type as the transistors Q1-Q3 in the pull-down unit 201, integrated in the same chip as the transistors Q1-Q3, and thus the same application environment (including temperature, etc.). According to one embodiment, the unit under test 202 may also include a transistor driver circuit DRV coupled to the gate of Q4, the same as the driver circuit DRV of Q1-Q3.

According to one embodiment, transistor Q4, which is independent of the pull-down cell, may be used as a representative of Q1-Q3 to detect a change in its properties (e.g., resistance) with temperature. According to one embodiment, the gate of transistor Q4 is coupled to its driver circuit DRV, and Q4 driver circuit DRV is configured to receive the supply signal VDRV of DRV of Q1-Q3 (this is the supply for enabling DRV operation, which may or may not be the same as VDD), ensuring that Q4 and Q1-Q3 operate at the same bias. The second pole of Q4 is configured to receive the power device low VEE signal as the second pole of Q1-Q3 according to one embodiment.

According to an embodiment, the calibration circuit may further comprise a measurement unit 203, and the first and second poles of Q4 may be respectively coupled to the measurement unit 203. According to one embodiment, the measurement unit 203 may be configured to obtain, for example, the operating state of the transistor Q4, such as Ids or corresponding voltage, in real time or online, and based thereon, determine a change in a property thereof, such as resistance, for example, by comparing with a preset threshold.

According to an embodiment, the calibration circuit may further include a regulating unit 204 coupled to the measuring unit 203, receiving the measurement result of the Q4, and determining the turn-on number of the Q1-Q3 according to the change of the property of the Q4, such as resistance. For example, the standard driving capability of the pull-down unit may correspond to the pull-down capability of two pull-down transistors being turned on simultaneously, e.g., Q1 and Q2 being turned on, Q3 being turned off; if the resistance of the Q4 is increased along with the increase of the temperature, and Ids or the corresponding voltage is lower than the lower threshold, the conducting number of the pull-down transistors can be increased, for example, three pull-down transistors of three pull-down transistors Q1-Q3 connected in parallel are selected to be conducted at the same time, so as to ensure that the pull-down driving capability of the pull-down unit is not obviously weakened along with the increase of the temperature; if the resistance of Q4 decreases with temperature and Ids or the corresponding voltage is higher than a lower threshold, the number of pull-down transistors that are turned on can be reduced, e.g., one of the three pull-down transistors is turned on and the other two are turned off, e.g., only Q1 is turned on, which also ensures that the pull-down driving capability does not suddenly increase due to temperature drop.

Fig. 3a is a schematic diagram of a power device pull-down driving circuit according to an embodiment of the present application.

As shown, the measurement unit 203 may include a current mirror composed of transistors QP1 and QP2 and a resistor Rsense, wherein first poles of QP1 and QP2 may be configured to receive a calibration circuit supply voltage signal VS (this signal may be the same as VDD or different), and control poles of QP1 and QP2 may be coupled to a second pole of QP1 and further coupled to a first pole of Q4. Resistor Rsense may be coupled between the second pole of QP2 and the second pole of Q4 (i.e., VEE).

With the above arrangement, the current flowing through Q4 is mirrored onto Rsense by the current consisting of QP1 and QP 2.

According to an embodiment, the measurement unit 203 may further comprise, for example, two comparators 2031 and 2032, wherein positive inputs of both are coupled to the second pole of the transistor QP2 to be configured to receive the voltage drop Vsense over Rsense, negative inputs of both are configured to receive the reference signals Vref1 and Vref2, respectively, and outputs of both are coupled to the regulation unit 204, respectively.

According to one embodiment, the regulating unit 204 is configured to determine the conduction of Q1-Q3 according to the relationship between Vsense and two reference voltages, i.e., the comparison of comparators 2031 and 2032.

Fig. 3b is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation of the power device pull-down driving circuit according to an embodiment of the present application.

According to one embodiment, the Vsense voltage between Vref1 and Vref2 corresponds to the standard driving capability of the pull-down cell, which may correspond to two pull-down transistors being on at the same time, e.g., Q1 and Q2 are on, and Q3 is off; if the Ids of the Q4 decreases with the increase of the resistance of the Q4 and the corresponding Vsense is lower than Vref1, the turn-on number of the pull-down transistors can be increased, for example, three pull-down transistors of three pull-down transistors Q1-Q3 connected in parallel are selected to be turned on at the same time, so as to ensure that the pull-down driving capability of the pull-down unit is not obviously weakened with the increase of the temperature; if the resistance of Q4 decreases with temperature and Ids of Q4 increases, so the corresponding Vsense is higher than Vref2, one of the three pull-down transistors can be turned on and the other two turned off, e.g., only Q1 is turned on, which also ensures that the pull-down driving capability does not suddenly increase due to temperature drop.

Similarly, in other application environments, the two thresholds can be set to decrease with temperature according to the resistance value of Q4, and further adjust the trigger condition for the conduction of the pull-down transistor. And still fall within the scope of the present application.

Of course, the number of pull-down transistors may vary as desired according to different embodiments. Accordingly, the number of comparators in the detection unit and the number of reference signals used also differ. According to one embodiment, the number of comparators and the number of reference signals are related to the number of pull-down transistors, and if the number of pull-down transistors is X, the number of comparators and reference signals is X-1, and X may be an integer greater than or equal to 2. The X-1 reference signals divide the Vsense voltage range into X intervals, and according to one embodiment, a first interval may correspond to the case where all of the X pull-down transistors are turned on, and a second interval may correspond to the case where X-1 pull-down transistors are turned on, and gradually decreases until the X-th interval corresponds to the case where only 1 pull-down transistor is turned on.

Fig. 4a is a schematic diagram of a power device pull-up driving circuit module according to an embodiment of the present application.

As shown, the driving circuit 40 may include a pull-up unit 401 configured to provide a power device pull-up signal VGATE' to the power device for pulling up the power device to the power device supply voltage VDD. According to one embodiment, the pull-up unit 401 may include a plurality of pull-up transistors, for example three identical pull-up transistors Q1 '-Q3', which are of identical model, i.e., of identical size, and are manufactured in the same flow with the same process. According to an embodiment, each pull-up transistor may also be provided with a respective pull-up transistor drive circuit DRV. According to one embodiment, since the pull-up transistors are of the same type as each other, the respective driver circuits DRV are also the same.

According to one embodiment, first poles of Q1 '-Q3' are coupled together and configured to receive a level VDD. According to one embodiment, the gates of Q1 ' -Q3 ' are coupled to respective driver circuits DRV, respectively, and the respective DRV of the three transistors is configured to receive a supply signal VDRV ' of DRV. According to one embodiment, the second poles of Q1 ' -Q3 ' are coupled together to be configured to provide a power device pull-up signal VGATE ' to the power device.

Since the pull-up transistors Q1 '-Q3' are not convenient to test their performance when they are in operation, the present application provides a calibration circuit specifically in the driving circuit, which may include the unit under test 402.

According to one embodiment, the unit under test 402 may include a transistor Q4 ' of the same type as the transistors Q1 ' -Q3 ' in the pull-up unit 401, integrated in the same chip as the transistors Q1 ' -Q3 ', and thus the same application environment (including temperature, etc.). According to one embodiment, the unit under test 402 may also include a driver circuit DRV of Q4 ', which is the same as the driver circuit DRV of Q1 ' -Q3 '. Q4 ' can be used as representative of Q1 ' -Q3 ' to detect the change of its properties (e.g., properties including resistance) with temperature. According to one embodiment, the gate of transistor Q4 'is coupled to its drive circuit DRV, and Q4' drive circuit DRV is configured to receive the power supply signal VDRV 'of the respective drive circuit DRV of Q1' -Q3 ', ensuring that Q4' and Q1 '-Q3' operate at the same bias state. The first pole of Q4 ' is configured to receive the power device supply signal VDD like the first pole of Q1 ' -Q3 ' according to one embodiment.

According to an embodiment, the calibration circuit may further comprise a measurement unit 403, and the first and second poles of Q4' may be coupled to the measurement unit 403, respectively. According to one embodiment, the measurement unit 403 may be configured to detect the operating state, e.g., Ids ', of the transistor Q4', e.g., in real time or online, to determine a change in a property thereof, e.g., resistance.

According to an embodiment, the calibration circuit may further include a regulation unit 404, coupled to the measurement unit 403, for receiving the measurement result of Q4 ', and determining the turn-on number of Q1' -Q3 'according to the change of the resistance of Q4'. For example, the standard driving capability of the pull-up unit may correspond to a pull-up capability in which two pull-up transistors are simultaneously turned on, e.g., Q1 ' and Q2 ' are turned on, and Q3 ' is turned off; if the resistance of the Q4 'is increased along with the temperature, and the Ids' or the corresponding voltage is lower than the lower threshold, three pull-up transistors of three pull-up transistors Q1 '-Q3' connected in parallel can be selected to be simultaneously conducted so as to ensure that the pull-up driving capability of the pull-up unit is not obviously weakened along with the temperature increase; if the resistance of Q4 ' decreases with temperature and Ids ' or the corresponding voltage is higher than the upper threshold, one of the three pull-up transistors can be turned on and the other two turned off, e.g., only Q1 ' is turned on, which also ensures that the pull-up driving capability does not suddenly increase due to temperature drop.

Of course, the number of pull-up transistors may vary as desired according to different embodiments. Accordingly, the number of comparators in the detection unit and the number of reference signals used also differ. According to one embodiment, the number of comparators and the number of reference signals are related to the number of pull-up transistors, and if the number of pull-down transistors is Y, the number of comparators and reference signals is Y-1, and Y may be an integer greater than or equal to 2. The Y-1 reference signals divide the Vsense' voltage range into Y intervals, and according to one embodiment, a first interval may correspond to the case where all of the Y pull-up transistors are on, and a second interval may correspond to the case where Y-1 pull-up transistors are on, and gradually decreases until the Y interval corresponds to the case where only 1 pull-up transistor is on.

Fig. 4b is a schematic diagram of a power device pull-up driving circuit according to an embodiment of the present application.

As shown, the measurement unit 203 may include a current mirror made up of transistors QP1 ' and QP ' and resistor Rsense ', wherein the second poles of QP1 ' and QP2 ' may be configured to receive the calibration circuit negative supply signal-VS, and the control poles of QP1 ' and QP2 ' may be coupled to the first pole of QP1 ' and, in turn, to the second pole of Q4 '. Resistor Rsense ' may be coupled between a first pole of QP2 ' and a first pole of Q4 ' (i.e., VDD).

With the above arrangement, the current flowing through Q4 'is mirrored onto Rsense' by the current composed of QP1 'and QP 2'.

According to an embodiment, the measurement unit 403 may further comprise, for example, two comparators 4031 and 4032, wherein positive inputs of both are coupled to the first pole of the transistor QP2 ' to be configured to receive the voltage drop Vsense ' on Rsense ', negative inputs of both are configured to receive the reference signals Vref1 ' and Vref2 ', respectively, and outputs of both are coupled to the regulation unit 404, respectively.

According to one embodiment, the regulating unit 404 is configured to determine the turn-on condition of Q1 ' -Q3 ' according to the relationship between Vsense ' and two reference voltages, i.e., the comparison of the comparators 4031 and 4032.

According to one embodiment, the Vsense 'between Vref 1' and Vref2 'corresponds to the standard drive capability of the pull-up cell, which may correspond to two pull-up transistors being on at the same time, e.g., Q1' and Q2 'are on, and Q3' is off; if the resistance of Q4 ' increases with temperature, Ids ' of Q4 ' decreases, and therefore Vsense ' is lower than Vref1 ', the number of conduction of the pull-up transistors may be increased, for example, three pull-up transistors of three pull-up transistors Q1 ' -Q3 ' connected in parallel are selected to be simultaneously conducted to ensure that the pull-down driving capability of the pull-up unit does not significantly decrease with temperature; if the resistance of Q4 'decreases with temperature, Ids' of Q4 'increases, and thus Vsense' is correspondingly higher than Vref2 ', then one of the three pull-up transistors can be turned on and the other two turned off, e.g., only Q1' is turned on, which also ensures that the pull-up driving capability does not suddenly increase due to temperature drop.

Fig. 5a is a schematic diagram of a power device driving circuit module according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown, the driving circuit may include a pull-down unit 501 including pull-down transistors Q1-Q3 of the same type; the pull-up unit 501 ' includes pull-up transistors Q1 ' -Q3 ' of the same type. According to one embodiment, the pull-down transistors Q1-Q3 of the pull-down unit 501 may be the same type as the pull-up transistors Q1 ' -Q3 ' of the pull-up unit 501 '. The output terminals of the pull-down unit 501 and the pull-up unit 501' are coupled together, and are used for outputting a pull-down or pull-up signal VGATE of the power device according to different operating states of the driving circuit.

According to one embodiment, the driving circuit may further include a calibration circuit, which may include the unit under test 502.

According to one embodiment, the unit under test 502, which may include the transistor under test Q4. According to one embodiment, the gates of Q1-Q3 and Q4 are both coupled to respective transistor drive circuits DRV, and DRV are both configured to receive a transistor drive circuit power signal VDRV _ PD. The second poles of Q1-Q3 and Q4 are both configured to receive the power device low level signal VEE. A first pole of Q1-Q3 is coupled to the output of the driver circuit and is configured to output a power device pull-down signal during a pull-down operation.

According to one embodiment, the calibration circuit may include a measurement unit 503, with first and second poles of Q4 also coupled to the measurement unit 503, respectively, so that the measurement unit 503 may measure a transistor under test Q4, which is identical in model number to Q1-Q3 and Q1 '-Q3'. Since the unit under test 502 and the pull-down unit 501 and the pull-up unit 501 ' are in the same chip, the application environment of the transistor under test Q4 is the same as that of the transistors Q1-Q3 and Q1 ' -Q3 ', and can be measured by the measurement unit 503 as representative of the six transistors to determine the change of the property, such as resistance. According to an embodiment, the specific structure of the measurement unit 503 may refer to the structure 203 in fig. 3 a. Of course, other non-inventive variations of the measuring unit based on the disclosure of the present application are also within the scope of the present application.

According to an embodiment, the calibration circuit may further include an adjustment unit 504 having an input coupled to the measurement unit 503 and outputs coupled to the pull-down unit 501 and the pull-up unit 501 ', respectively, and configured to control the conduction of the Q1-Q3 and the Q1 ' -Q3 ' according to the measurement result of 503. For specific working situations, reference may be made to fig. 3a or fig. 4b and their corresponding description. According to one embodiment, the pull-up transistors of the pull-up unit are turned on by the same number as the pull-down transistors of the pull-down unit.

Fig. 5b is a schematic diagram of a power device driving circuit module according to another embodiment of the present application. The difference with the circuit of fig. 5a is that the unit under test 502 is coupled to the pull-up unit 501'. The operating principle corresponds substantially to the circuit of fig. 5 a.

In fig. 5a and 5b, in order to save circuit area, on the premise that the tested transistor Q4 has the same type, i.e., the same size, the same manufacturing process, and the same application environment as the pull-up and pull-down transistors, the turn-on number of the pull-up or pull-down transistors in the pull-up and pull-down units can be uniformly controlled by only using one set of tested unit, measuring unit, and adjusting unit for the pull-up or pull-down units. Of course, it is also possible to provide the measured unit, the measuring unit and the adjusting unit for the pull-up unit and the pull-down unit, respectively, and still fall within the scope of the present application.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram showing changes of on-resistance of a pull-up or pull-down unit in a power device driving circuit adopting the architecture of the present application with temperature and process. As shown, the on-resistance of the pull-up or pull-down cell does not increase with increasing temperature as shown in fig. 1, but the on-resistance is always maintained within a range even if the temperature increases. This is because once the resistance of the transistor to be tested in the unit to be tested rises above a certain threshold, the measurement unit will detect, and the regulation unit will turn on more pull-up or pull-down transistors based on the detection result, thereby reducing the overall on-resistance of the pull-up or pull-down unit.

In addition, because the same calibration circuit and the same reference signal are adopted for different power device driving circuit chips, namely the calibration is carried out by adopting a uniform standard, the difference in pull-up or pull-down driving capability caused by process errors among different chips can be eliminated.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a power device driver circuit architecture according to an embodiment of the present application.

According to one embodiment, the power device driving circuit may include a pull-down section and a pull-up section.

According to one embodiment, the pull-down portion includes M pull-down units PD1-PDM, where M is an integer greater than or equal to 2, each pull-down unit may include X pull-down transistors, and X is an integer greater than or equal to 2. According to one embodiment, the control electrode of each pull-down transistor is coupled to a respective transistor drive circuit DRV. According to one embodiment, DRV is configured to receive a pull-down transistor DRV power signal VDRV _ PD.

According to one embodiment, the pull-down section may further include a pull-down selection unit 72 coupled to the M pull-down units PD1-PDM through pull-down selection buses, respectively, configured to activate one or more pull-down units according to a user or system instruction. (a plurality of select lines are symbolized in a simplified manner in the figure).

According to one embodiment, the pull-down part may further include a pull-down calibration circuit 74, which may include a unit under test 742, a measurement unit 744 coupled to the unit under test 742, an adjustment unit 746 coupled to the measurement unit 744, the adjustment unit 746 further being coupled to the control terminal of each pull-down transistor driving circuit DRV in each pull-down unit through an adjustment bus, respectively. (simplified means are used to symbolize a plurality of adjustment lines in the figure).

According to one embodiment, the unit under test 742 may comprise a transistor under test that is the same type, i.e., the same size, the same manufacturing process, and the same application environment as each pull-down transistor in each pull-down unit. The gate of the transistor under test may be coupled to its transistor drive circuit DRV, which is configured to receive the pull-down transistor DRV power signal VDRV _ PD. The first and second poles of the transistor under test are each coupled to a measurement unit 744, the second pole together with the second pole of each pull-down transistor being configured to receive the power device low level signal VEE. The first pole of each pull-down transistor is coupled to the overall output terminal of the power device driving circuit for providing a power device pull-down signal VGATE when a pull-down operation is to be performed.

According to one embodiment, the pull-up section may include N pull-up units PU1-PUN, where N is an integer equal to or greater than 2, and each pull-up unit may include Y pull-down transistors, and Y is an integer equal to or greater than 2. According to one embodiment, the control electrode of each pull-up transistor is coupled to a respective transistor drive circuit DRV. According to one embodiment, the DRV is configured to receive a power supply signal VDRV _ PU of the pull-up transistor DRV.

According to one embodiment, the pull-up section may further include a pull-up selection unit 76 coupled to the N pull-down units PU1-PUN, respectively, via a pull-up selection bus configured to activate one or more pull-up units according to a user or system instruction. (a plurality of select lines are symbolized in a simplified manner in the figure).

According to an embodiment, the pull-up section may further include a pull-up calibration circuit 78, which may include a unit under test 782, a measurement unit 784 coupled to the unit under test 782, and an adjustment unit 786 coupled to the measurement unit 784, the adjustment unit 786 further being coupled to a control terminal of each pull-up transistor drive circuit DRV in each pull-up unit, respectively. (simplified means are used to symbolize a plurality of adjustment lines in the figure).

According to one embodiment, the unit under test 782 may include a transistor under test that is the same model, i.e., the same size, the same manufacturing process, and the same application environment as each pull-up transistor in each pull-up unit. The gate of the transistor under test may be coupled to its transistor drive circuit DRV, which is configured to receive the pull-up transistor DRV power signal VDRV _ PU. The first and second poles of the transistor under test are each coupled to a measurement unit 784, the first pole of which, together with the first pole of each pull-up transistor, is configured to receive the power device power supply signal level VDD. The second pole of each pull-up transistor is coupled to the global output of the power device driver circuit for providing a power device pull-up signal VGATE when a pull-up operation is to be performed.

According to various embodiments, if the pull-up transistor and the pull-down transistor have the same size, the same manufacturing process and the same application environment, one calibration circuit can be shared by the pull-up portion and the pull-down portion.

By adopting the scheme, the system can automatically adjust the number of the conducting pull-up or pull-down transistors in real time according to the change condition of the transistor attribute on the basis of realizing the hierarchical driving, thereby ensuring that a stable pull-up or pull-down effect is provided for the power device. In addition, by adopting the scheme in the application, the same reference signal is adopted as the trigger condition of the automatic calibration, so that the difference of the driving capability between different chips caused by the process error between the same process and different batches can be avoided.

Thus, while the present application has been described with reference to specific examples, which are intended to be illustrative only and not to be limiting of the application, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that changes, additions or deletions may be made to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the application.

Claims (7)

1. A power device driving circuit is characterized by comprising

A plurality of pull-up and/or pull-down units, wherein each of the pull-up and/or pull-down units respectively comprises a plurality of pull-up transistors with the same model or pull-down transistors with the same model;

a pull-up and/or pull-down selection unit respectively coupled to the pull-up or pull-down units and configured to activate one or more of the plurality of pull-up or pull-down units, the activated pull-up units collectively configured to provide a pull-up signal to the power device, and the activated pull-down units collectively configured to provide a pull-down signal to the power device;

a unit under test comprising a transistor under test, the transistor under test being of the same type as the pull-up transistor or pull-down transistor and receiving the same bias as the turned-on pull-up transistor and/or pull-down transistor;

the measuring unit is coupled to the tested unit and is configured to detect the attribute of the tested transistor and compare the attribute with a preset threshold value; and

a regulation unit coupled to the measurement unit and the pull-up or pull-down unit, configured to control the turn-on number of the pull-up and/or pull-down transistors based on a result output by the measurement unit.

2. The circuit of claim 1, wherein the measurement unit comprises

The mirror image component is coupled to the transistor to be tested and is configured to form a mirror image signal according to the current or the voltage which embodies the property of the transistor to be tested;

a comparison component coupled to the mirror component and configured to receive the mirror signal and compare it with the preset threshold, and send the comparison result to the regulation and control unit.

3. The circuit of claim 2, wherein the circuit further comprises a second voltage regulator circuit

The first poles of the pull-down transistors are coupled with each other and are configured to output a power device pull-down signal at the output end of the driving circuit, the second poles of the pull-down transistors are coupled with each other and are configured to receive a power device low-level signal, the control poles of the pull-down transistors are coupled with the respective pull-down transistor driving circuit, the pull-down transistor driving circuit is configured to receive a pull-down transistor driving circuit power supply signal, and the control ends of the pull-down transistor driving circuit power supply signal are respectively coupled with the corresponding output ends of the regulating unit;

the control electrode of the transistor under test is coupled to a transistor under test driving circuit, the transistor under test driving circuit is configured to receive a pull-down transistor driving circuit power supply signal, the second electrode of the transistor under test is coupled to the second electrode of the pull-down transistor, and the first electrode and the second electrode of the transistor under test are respectively coupled to the measuring unit.

4. The circuit of claim 3, wherein the circuit further comprises a second voltage regulator circuit

The mirror component comprises a first transistor, a second transistor and a first detection resistor, wherein first poles of the first and second transistors are configured to receive a calibration circuit positive power supply signal, control poles of the first and second transistors and a second pole of the first transistor are coupled to a first pole of the transistor under test, and a second pole of the second transistor is coupled to a second pole of the transistor under test through the first detection resistor;

the number of the pull-down transistors is X, and X is an integer greater than or equal to 2;

the comparison component comprises X-1 comparators, the preset threshold comprises X-1 reference signals to form X intervals, the 1 st interval corresponds to the condition that X pull-down transistors are all conducted, the number of the conducted pull-down transistors is reduced along with the increase of the serial number of the intervals, and the X interval corresponds to the condition that only one pull-down transistor is conducted; the positive input end of each comparator is configured to receive the voltage drop across the first detection resistor, the negative input end of each comparator is configured to receive a corresponding reference signal, and the output end of each comparator is respectively coupled to the regulation unit.

5. The circuit of claim 2, wherein the circuit further comprises a second voltage regulator circuit

The first poles of the pull-up transistors are coupled with each other and are configured to receive a positive power supply signal of a power device, the second poles of the pull-up transistors are coupled with each other and are configured to output a pull-up signal at the output end of the driving circuit, the control poles of the pull-up transistors are coupled with the respective pull-up transistor driving circuits, the pull-up transistor driving circuits are configured to receive power supply signals of the pull-up transistor driving circuits, and the control ends of the pull-up transistor driving circuits are respectively coupled with the corresponding output ends of the regulating and controlling unit;

the control electrode of the transistor under test is coupled to a transistor under test driving circuit, the transistor under test driving circuit is configured to receive a pull-up transistor driving circuit power supply signal, the first electrode of the transistor under test is coupled to the first electrode of the pull-up transistor, and the first electrode and the second electrode of the transistor under test are respectively coupled to the measuring unit.

6. The circuit of claim 5, wherein the circuit further comprises a second voltage regulator circuit

The mirror component comprises a third transistor, a fourth transistor and a second detection resistor, wherein the second poles of the third and fourth transistors are configured to receive a calibration circuit negative power supply signal, the control poles of the third and fourth transistors and the first pole of the third transistor are coupled to the second pole of the transistor under test, and the first pole of the fourth transistor is coupled to the first pole of the transistor under test through the second detection resistor;

the number of the pull-up transistors is Y, and Y is an integer greater than or equal to 2;

the comparison assembly comprises Y-1 comparators, the preset threshold comprises Y-1 reference signals to form Y intervals, the 1 st interval corresponds to the condition that Y pull-up transistors are all conducted, the number of the pull-up transistors conducted is reduced along with the increase of the serial number of the intervals, and the Y th interval corresponds to the condition that only one pull-up transistor is conducted; the positive input end of each comparator is configured to receive the voltage drop across the second detection resistor, the negative input end of each comparator is configured to receive a corresponding reference signal, and the output end of each comparator is respectively coupled to the regulation unit.

7. An electronic device comprising a power device, and a power device driving circuit as claimed in any of claims 1-6 coupled to the power device.

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