Programmable is a product with "software" installed in the gate drive.

Microchip has introduced a programmable gate drive method called AgileSwitch that applies digital technology.

A programmable gate driver is a gate driver board and software tool that sets the parameters of the gate driver board with a GUI from software installed on a personal computer and programs it to the gate driver board.

It was developed with the aim of achieving both high-speed switching, which is required for SiC switching, and loss reduction due to overshoot, etc. Since it is "programmable", it is possible to change the settings and check the operation without changing the hardware, which leads to a reduction in development time.

First, gate drive condition settings and data generation are performed using software called the Intelligent Configuration Tool. The generated data is then programmed into the AgileSwitch gate driver board using a programming tool called MPLAB-IPE. The AgileSwitch gate driver board is now configured and behaves accordingly.

Image of switching

The figure below is an image of the switching waveform.

Ringing and overshoot occur with the conventional gate drive method, but AgileSwitch shows that it is possible to control the gate (Vgs) waveform to achieve both overshoot and switching loss.

Inquiry

This is the name of AgileSwitch, a programmable gate driver provided by Microchip. Microchip offers an evaluation kit combined with a SiC power module, so if you are interested, please contact us.