Mos fet drive circuit providing protection against transient voltage breakdown.

摘要

A drive circuit suitable for producing a high voltage drive output signal has an output stage formed of a P-channel MOS FET (4) and an N-channel MOS FET (5) connected for push-pull operation. The circuit is configured such that even with a supply voltage applied to the output stage which is higher than the ON-state withstand voltage of the MOS FETs (4, 5), this value of voltage is prevented from being applied to a MOS FET (4, 5) which is in the ON state, i.e. by providing voltage-dropping resistors (R1, R2) connected between the drain electrodes of the MOS FETs (4, 5) or utilizin g a circuit which prevents each MOS FET (4, 5) from entering the ON state until after the other MOS FET (5, 4) has entered the OFF state.