New Industry Products

Fairchild Adds High-Speed, Low-Side 1 & 9A Gate Drivers

February 11, 2009 by Jeff Shepard

Fairchild Semiconductor has expanded its family of high-speed, low-side gate drivers with the addition of the single 1 and 9A drivers. All of these drivers are said to enable higher density, higher efficiency and more reliable power supplies. With the addition of single 1 and 9A drivers to the previously released single 2A, dual 2A and dual 4A drivers, the company claims that the FAN31xx and FAN32xx series now offers the industry’s best combination of performance, size and design flexibility for switch-mode power-supply (SMPS) designs, synchronous rectifiers, pulse transformer drivers and motor control circuits.

The new FAN3111 family provides a strong 1A gate drive in a small five-pin SOT-23 package for cost- sensitive gate drive applications or as distributed drivers for parallel power devices. The FAN3111 can replace discrete totem-pole drivers. The CMOS input configuration option FAN3111C is offered with dual inputs to allow a non-inverting or an inverting configuration with an enable function. The FAN3111E includes a single, non-inverting input with its thresholds referenced to an external voltage for use with controllers that operate from a lower supply voltage than the driver.

The new FAN3121/22 9A driver family provides solutions for driving large loads with over 10A of peak gate drive current. The pin-out is compatible with many industry standard 6, 9 and 12A drivers. In addition, an enable function for the driver is included on the pin, which previously was left unused in the industry standard pin-out. The enable pin when left open will be internally pulled up for active high logic and can be left open if no enable function is needed or for potential drop-in capability into existing designs.

With a choice of input thresholds and packaging along with rugged, industrial-grade ratings and short and well-controlled time delays, these low-side drivers eliminate the need for tradeoffs and provide designers the best options to optimally fit each design. With the addition of the 1 and 9A gate driver families, these products augment a comprehensive suite of power solutions from Fairchild Semiconductor to enable high-efficiency, low-standby power ac-dc switch-mode power supplies and high-performance isolated dc-dc power converters.

The FAN31xx and FAN32xx series utilizes lead-free (Pb-free) terminals and have been characterized for moisture sensitivity in accordance with the Pb-free reflow requirements of the joint IPC/JEDEC standard J-STD-020.

The devices are priced as follows: FAN3111 family in SOT23-5 (1000, pcs.) – US$ 0.33; FAN3121/22 family in SOIC-8 (1000, pcs.) – US$ 0.89; and the FAN3121/22 family in MLP-8 (1000, pcs.) – US$ 0.99. Delivery is 8 weeks ARO.