In this tutorial note from Silicon Labs, we cover how designers of ac-dc and isolated dc-dc switch mode power supplies (SMPS), uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), solar inverters, and electronic lighting ballasts must rely not only on a properly selected high side/low-side gate driver IC, but also on an external bootstrap circuit and its PCB layout. The ISOdriver high-side drive channel(s) require(s) a bootstrap circuit when the highside switch has a drain voltage greater than the ISOdriver's VDDA supply.
