The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 22, 2009
Filed:
Sep. 05, 2008
Bruno Charles Nadd, Lourmarin, FR;
Bruno Charles Nadd, Lourmarin, FR;
International Rectifier Corporation, El Segundo, CA (US);
Abstract
An active clamp circuit for avalanching and clamping voltage at a gate terminal of a first transistor connected to a power source. The active clamp circuit includes a second transistor for turning ON the first transistor; a third transistor having EPI breakdown voltage less than that of the first transistor; a resistor coupled between a node and source and gate terminals of the third transistor; and an amplifier for comparing voltage on the resistor to a reference voltage and providing an output signal to control the second transistor, wherein, when the third transistor avalanches and the voltage across the resistor exceeds the reference voltage, the output signal turns ON the second transistor thereby clamping the gate terminal of the first transistor, wherein the active clamp circuit tracks the channel characteristic of the first transistor.