High-current, gate-driver devices are required in switching power applications for a variety of reasons. In order to implement fast switching of power devices and reduce associated switching power losses, a powerful gate-driver device is employed between the PWM output of control devices and the gates of the power semiconductor devices. Additionally, gate-driver devices are indispensable when having the PWM controller device directly drive the gates of the switching devices is not feasible. In the case of digital power supply controllers, this situation is often encountered because the PWM signal from the digital controller is often a 3.3V logic signal which is not capable of effectively turning on a power switch.

In bridge topologies, like hard-switched half bridge, hard-switched full bridge, half-bridge and full-bridge LLC, phase-shifted full bridge, and 2-transistor forward, the source and emitter pin of the top-side power MOSFET/IGBT switch is referenced to a node whose voltage changes dynamically; that is, not referenced to a fixed potential, so floating-driver devices are necessary in these topologies.

The UCC278X4-Q1 is a half-bridge driver dedicated for DC-to-DC power supplies, inverters, and other half-bridge topologies. The high side is a floating driver that can be biased effectively using a bootstrap circuit, and can handle up to 230V. The driver can be used with 100% duty cycle as long as HB-HS can be maintained above UVLO of the high side.

The device features excellent propagation delays and delay matching between both channels aimed at minimizing pulse distortion in high-frequency switching applications. Each channel is controlled by its respective input pins (HI and LI), allowing full and independent flexibility to control on and off state of the output. The UCC278X4-Q1 includes protection features wherein the outputs are held low when inputs are floating or when the minimum input pulse width specification is not met. The driver inputs are CMOS and TTL compatible for easy interface to digital power controllers and analog controllers alike.