I have a three phase inverter design using EPC2302.
Is the 10k pulldown resistor on the gate necessary for EPC2302?
What is the impact of adding or removing the 10k pulldown resistor on the gate?
Hi, and thanks for writing in!
Short answer: not needed, depending on gate driver
Long answer: Whether or not pull-down resistors are needed is mostly a function of the gate driver used. Most reference circuits using GaN gate drivers do not include pull-down Rs, but if there is a concern (due to multiple larger FETs on one gate driver, and gate leakage at high temperature), they can be used. GaN FETs have higher gate leakage vs. MOSFETs, so MOSFET gate drivers + GaN FETs may need pull-down Rs.
EPC has a motor drive reference design, board part # EPC9186, 4 FETs in parallel per position, and it does not show pull-downs. See pages 3 & 15 of the schematics: https://epc-co.com/epc/Portals/0/epc/documents/schematics/EPC9186_Schematic.pdf
The impact of 10k resistors is minimal, they add only 0.5 mA to the gate drivers’ load when high = 5V. Some designs include empty pads in the design, just in case needed later.
Hope this helps,
Brian Miller, EPC Field Application Engineer, Eastern Americas
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