Analysis and design methodology for PCB and integrated circuit pulse transformer

Scope and Method of Study. This work involves the study and implementation of pulse transformers for gate drive circuits in switch mode power supplies. A gate drive transformer is needed in SMPS to control the timing of the circuit. These gate-drive transformers are basically pulse transformers that are used to drive the gate of an electronic switching device. This work essentially concentrates on designing a 1:1 coreless pulse transformer that would drive the gates of power switches.;Findings and Conclusions. Based on this study, using low and high frequency band models for the transformer a set of design equations have been developed to model a pulse transformer for a given rise time and droop requirements with proper damping. Based on the developed equations an appropriate value for the inductance for the given of rise time is determined .With these values as guidelines the PCB/IC transformer has been designed and simulated in the high frequency electromagnetic software. Based on the simplified models and the simulation data a PCB transformer has been fabricated and measured to validate the design methodology. Additionally, the feasibility of the CMOS Integrated high side switching with the measured PCB transformer S-parameter data has been demonstrated based on the Cadence Spectre simulations.