Controlled current manipulation for regenerative charging of gate capacitance

Abstract

A regenerative gate charging circuit includes an inductor coupled to a gate of a FET. An output control circuit is coupled to a timing control circuit and a bridged inductor driver, which is coupled to the inductor. A sense circuit is coupled to the gate and to the timing control circuit, which receives a control signal, generates output control signals in accordance with a first timing profile, and transmits the output control signals to the output control circuit. In accordance with the first timing profile, the output control circuit holds switches or controllable current sources of the bridged inductor driver in an ON state for a first period and holds the switches or controllable current sources in an OFF state for a second period. Gate voltages are sampled during the second period and after the first period. The timing control circuit generates a second timing profile using the sampled voltages.