Silicon Laboratories Inc.

Paulo Santos

Michael James Mills

Michael L Duffy

Tufan C Karalar

András Vince Horvath

Ross Sabolcik

Rudye McGlothlin

An apparatus for controlling a high-power drive device external to a package of a motor drive circuit includes a motor drive circuit. The motor drive circuit includes a driver to control the high-power drive device based on a first reference voltage, a second reference voltage, and a control signal based on a received control signal. A fault circuit generates a failure indicator based on a voltage across terminals of the high-power drive device. A fault condition is based on the failure indicator. A first terminal coupled to the driver charges a node of the high-power drive device over a first length of time in response to an absence of the fault condition and a first level of the control signal. A second terminal coupled to the driver discharges the node over a second length of time different from the first length of time.

Soft shutdown for isolated drivers

A circuit includes a delay circuit, a transition detector, a pre-driver circuit, and a controller. The delay circuit includes an input for receiving a signal and an output for providing a delayed version of the signal. The transition detector is coupled to the input of the delay circuit to detect a transition within the signal and to provide a look ahead signal to a detector output. The pre-driver circuit includes an input coupled to the output of the delay circuit, a control input, at least one signal output, and a plurality of a bias outputs. The controller is coupled to the detector output and to the control input of the pre-driver circuit and is configured to control bias signals on a plurality of bias outputs to selectively increase a driving strength of signals and biases applied to an output stage in response to the look ahead signal.

Circuit and method for dynamic biasing of an output stage

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Paulo Santos