
8
FN9153.5
July 25, 2005
This feature helps prevent a negative transient on the output 
voltage when the output is shut down, eliminating the 
Schottky diode that is used in some systems for protecting 
the load from reversed output voltage events.
In addition, more than 400mV hysteresis also incorporates 
into the three-state shutdown window to eliminate PWM 
input oscillations due to the capacitive load seen by the 
PWM input through the body diode of the controller’s PWM 
output when the power-up and/or power-down sequence of 
bias supplies of the driver and PWM controller are required. 
Power-On Reset (POR) Function
During initial startup, the VCC voltage rise is monitored. 
Once the rising VCC voltage exceeds 9.8V (typically), 
operation of the driver is enabled and the PWM input signal 
takes control of the gate drives. If VCC drops below the 
falling threshold of 7.6V (typically), operation of the driver is 
disabled.
Pre-POR Over Voltage Protection
Prior to VCC exceeding its POR level, the upper gate is held 
low and the lower gate is controlled by the overvoltage 
protection circuits during initial startup. The PHASE is 
connected to the gate of the low side MOSFET (LGATE), 
which provides some protection to the microprocessor if the 
upper MOSFET(s) is shorted during initial startup. For 
complete protection, the low side MOSFET should have a 
gate threshold well below the maximum voltage rating of the 
load/microprocessor. 
When VCC drops below its POR level, both gates pull low 
and the Pre-POR overvoltage protection circuits are not 
activated until VCC resets.
Internal Bootstrap Device
Both drivers feature an internal bootstrap schottky diode. 
Simply adding an external capacitor across the BOOT and 
PHASE pins completes the bootstrap circuit. The bootstrap 
function is also designed to prevent the bootstrap capacitor 
from overcharging due to the large negative swing at the 
trailing-edge of the PHASE node. This reduces voltage 
stress on the boot to phase pins.
The bootstrap capacitor must have a maximum voltage 
rating above UVCC + 5V and its capacitance value can be 
chosen from the following equation: 
where Q
G1
 is the amount of gate charge per upper MOSFET 
at V
GS1
 gate-source voltage and N
Q1
 is the number of 
control MOSFETs. The 
V
BOOT_CAP
 term is defined as the 
allowable droop in the rail of the upper gate drive. 
As an example, suppose two IRLR7821 FETs are chosen as 
the upper MOSFETs. The gate charge, Q
G
, from the data 
sheet is 10nC at 4.5V (V
GS
) gate-source voltage. Then the 
Q
GATE
 is calculated to be 53nC for UVCC (i.e. PVCC in 
ISL6613, VCC in ISL6612) =12V. We will assume a 200mV 
droop in drive voltage over the PWM cycle. We find that a 
bootstrap capacitance of at least 0.267
μ
F is required.
Gate Drive Voltage Versatility
The ISL6612 and ISL6613 provide the user flexibility in 
choosing the gate drive voltage for efficiency optimization. 
The ISL6612 upper gate drive is fixed to VCC [+12V], but the 
lower drive rail can range from 12V down to 5V depending 
on what voltage is applied to PVCC. The ISL6613 ties the 
upper and lower drive rails together. Simply applying a 
voltage from 5V up to 12V on PVCC sets both gate drive rail 
voltages simultaneously. 
Over Temperature Protection (OTP) 
When the junction temperature of the IC exceeds 150°C 
(typically), both upper and lower gates turn off. The driver 
stays off and does not return to normal operation until its 
junction temperature comes down below 108°C (typically). 
For high frequency applications, applying a lower voltage to 
PVCC helps reduce the power dissipation and lower the 
junction temperature of the IC. This method reduces the risk 
of tripping OTP. 
Power Dissipation
Package power dissipation is mainly a function of the 
switching frequency (F
SW
), the output drive impedance, the 
external gate resistance, and the selected MOSFET’s 
internal gate resistance and total gate charge. Calculating 
the power dissipation in the driver for a desired application is 
critical to ensure safe operation. Exceeding the maximum 
allowable power dissipation level will push the IC beyond the 
C
BOOT_CAP
Q
BOOT_CAP
-------------------------------------
≥
Q
GATE
Q
-----------------------------------
UVCC
GS1
N
Q1
=
(EQ. 1)
20nC
FIGURE 2. BOOTSTRAP CAPACITANCE vs BOOT RIPPLE 
VOLTAGE
V
BOOT_CAP 
(V)
C
B
(
μ
F
1.6
1.4
1.2
1.
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
0.3
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.9
0.7
0.8
1.0
Q
GATE 
= 100nC
ISL6612, ISL6613