From application requirements to gate-driver choice

An application does not determine a single gate driver. It defines the operating envelope: bus voltage, topology, power level, switching frequency, isolation concept, ambient conditions, safety requirements, fault strategy, integration target, and qualification. The driver must then be matched to both the power switch and the complete system.

Home appliances and HVAC

Compressors, pumps, fans, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, and heat pumps commonly use PFC stages and three-phase inverters. Three-phase and half-bridge drivers can integrate bootstrap, UVLO, OCP, enable, fault, and shoot-through functions. Priorities include cost, PCB area, negative switch-node robustness, channel matching, fault handling, and temperature.

Next step: Explore three-phase gate drivers

Compare six-channel solutions for compressors, pumps, fans, and appliance inverters.

Industrial drives and automation

General-purpose drives, servo drives, pumps, fans, cranes, tooling, and process automation use three-phase inverters across a wide power range. Low-power systems may favor integrated level-shift drivers; higher-power systems often use isolated channels, DESAT, controlled turn-off, high CMTI, and isolated bias supplies.

Next steps: Explore isolated gate drivers

Review isolated Compact and Enhanced families for higher-voltage industrial conversion.

Robotics, mobile robots, and battery-powered motor control

Robots combine motor inverters, DC-DC stages, battery interfaces, sensing, and distributed actuators. Relevant choices include low-side, half-bridge, three-phase, TDI, and isolated drivers. Integration of charge pumps, current-sense amplifiers, programmable current, deadtime, and diagnostics can reduce external circuitry.

AI servers, data centers, and telecom power

Power-supply units, intermediate bus converters, battery backup units, switched-capacitor stages, LLC converters, and point-of-load architectures prioritize efficiency and power density. Short propagation delay, minimum pulse width, delay matching, compact packages, strong source/sink current, reverse-current capability, and current-sense integration can be decisive.

NEXT STEP: Explore half-bridge gate drivers

Compare fast, compact bridge and dual-floating options for high-density power conversion.

EV charging infrastructure

AC chargers and DC fast chargers include PFC, isolated DC-DC, and auxiliary stages. High-voltage isolation, CMTI, creepage, DESAT or OCP, active Miller clamp, controlled fault turn-off, and diagnostics are common priorities.

Next step: Find a driver for the converter stage

Filter by switch type, voltage class, isolation, current, and protection requirements.

On-board chargers and automotive HV DC-DC

OBC and vehicle DC-DC stages require power-switch compatibility, isolation, CMTI, compact packaging, robust diagnostics, temperature capability, and automotive qualification. Selected designs may require functional-safety documentation and system-level safe-state analysis.

PV, energy storage, and UPS

Solar inverters, string inverters, optimizers, battery converters, hybrid ESS, and UPS platforms include unidirectional and bidirectional stages. Working voltage, isolation, CMTI, switching efficiency, delay matching, protection, lifetime, and thermal conditions are central.

Next step: Explore evaluation boards

Move from driver selection to switching and system validation.

Solid-state transformers and medium-voltage conversion

SST architectures use cascaded converter cells, bridge stages, and isolated DC-DC converters. They place strong emphasis on working voltage, creepage, CMTI, part-to-part delay consistency, short-circuit response, fault reporting, and local isolated gate-driver bias power.

Next step: Explore isolated bias-supply drivers

Review transformer-driver ICs that complement isolated gate drivers.

Automotive low-voltage and auxiliary systems

Gate drivers also appear in traction-related systems, 12 V/24 V/48 V motor drives, battery disconnects, pumps, fans, steering, braking, and actuators. Requirements vary widely and can include AEC-Q100 qualification, diagnostics, charge pumps, current sensing, and safe-state behavior.

Lighting and general power supplies

PFC, flyback, buck, half-bridge, LLC, and synchronous-rectification stages use low-side and level-shift drivers. Designers prioritize cost, logic compatibility, switching loss, bootstrap behavior, UVLO, pinout, and package size.

Material handling, LEV, forklifts, and power tools

Lower-voltage high-current motor drives may use paralleled MOSFETs. High source/sink current, strong turn-off, charge-pump or bootstrap support, current sensing, and compact three-phase solutions can reduce external buffers and simplify the inverter.

Application-to-topology quick guide

Next step: Use the Gate Driver Finder

Apply the application requirements to the EiceDRIVER™ parametric portfolio.

Frequently asked questions about gate driver's applications

Which gate driver is commonly used for a three-phase motor?

A six-channel three-phase driver can control the complete inverter, while three half-bridge drivers or six isolated channels provide more distributed implementations.

No. Isolation depends on the converter stage, topology, insulation concept, working voltage, and safety requirements.

Low-side, half-bridge, dual-floating, and isolated drivers may appear across PFC, bus conversion, switched-capacitor, backup, and auxiliary stages.

Timing spread affects deadtime, switching symmetry, conduction loss, and coordination across many switches.

They commonly create isolated bias power for a gate-driver circuit; they do not directly replace the switch gate driver.