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High-Performance Gate Drivers Bring Economical Edge to BLDC Motors

July 9, 2025

STMicroelectronics’ integrated gate drivers for three-phase brushless motors offer performance and efficiency in consumer and industrial equipment.

Lee Goldberg

Related To:

Electronic Design

The STDRIVE102H and STDRIVE102BH integrated gate drivers for three-phase brushless motors, developed by STMicroelectronics, support operating voltages from 6 to 50 V while delivering excellent performance, efficiency, and economy in consumer and industrial equipment.

The STDRIVE102H (for single-shunt control) and STDRIVE102BH (for three-shunt control) can support various drive schemes, including field-oriented control (FOC) and six-step motion control. Both devices’ drive current parameters can be easily configured through two analog pins using a simple resistor divider without the need for gate resistors. They also feature extensive protection against electrical and thermal hazards as well as a low-current standby mode that helps preserve battery life of cordless consumer and industrial products.

Each gate driver integrates charge-pump circuitry capable of sustaining unlimited on-time of the high-side MOSFETs to support applications that require a PWM duty cycle of 100%. The charge pump’s high- and low-side output MOSFETs are driven with identical gate-source voltage circuits to ensure tightly balanced operation. The low-dropout regulators (LDOs), which provide 12 V and 3.3 V for the drivers’ low-side circuitry and analog front end, can be used to power external components.

Developers can take advantage of ST’s EVLDRIVE102H and EVLDRIVE102BH evaluation boards and -CUBE-MCSDK STM32 motor-control software development kit (MCSDK) to accelerate development of systems. The kits feature motor back-EMF sensing as well as inputs for motors equipped with position sensors for extra precision.

The STDRIVE102H and STDRIVE102BH are available now in 5- × 5-mm or 6- × 6-mm QFN packages, priced from $1.20 for orders of 1,000 pieces.

About the Author

Lee Goldberg | Contributing Editor

Lee Goldberg is a self-identified “Recovering Engineer,” Maker/Hacker, Green-Tech Maven, Aviator, Gadfly, and Geek Dad. He spent the first 18 years of his career helping design microprocessors, embedded systems, renewable energy applications, and the occasional interplanetary spacecraft. After trading his ‘scope and soldering iron for a keyboard and a second career as a tech journalist, he’s spent the next two decades at several print and online engineering publications.

Lee’s current focus is power electronics, especially the technologies involved with energy efficiency, energy management, and renewable energy. This dovetails with his coverage of sustainable technologies and various environmental and social issues within the engineering community that he began in 1996. Lee also covers 3D printers, open-source hardware, and other Maker/Hacker technologies.

Lee holds a BSEE in Electrical Engineering from Thomas Edison College, and participated in a colloquium on technology, society, and the environment at Goddard College’s Institute for Social Ecology. His book, “Green Electronics/Green Bottom Line - A Commonsense Guide To Environmentally Responsible Engineering and Management,” was published by Newnes Press.

Lee, his wife Catherine, and his daughter Anwyn currently reside in the outskirts of Princeton N.J., where they masquerade as a typical suburban family.

Lee also writes the regular PowerBites series.