Abusing gate drivers as voltage level translators to +15V logic

[daqq]

Hi guys,

I've been looking into the standard solutions for low->high level shifters such as the 4104 ( http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/1758136.pdf ). They have a very large range of long delay times, and the transition time isn't that awesome either. Basically you can get around 10MHz max out of the whole thing. Other similar devices are similar in terms of speed when going from +5V logic to +15V logic.

On the other hand, gate drivers for MOSFETs or IGBTs, such as the UCC27519DBVT ( http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/ucc27519.pdf ), have very fast rise and fall times, as well as very low propagation delays, in addition to cool stuff like undervoltage lockouts, enable pins, etc. They are pricier, but other than that there seems to be no downside to abusing them as simple voltage level translators.

The +15V side device has a +8V logic treshold, it's a simple logic input of no extreme requirements.

So, is there any downside to using similar devices as a simple level translator?

Thanks,

David

[tautech]

4066 is somewhat faster than a 4104.

[tautech]

And this little chap: IRF5851