Discontinued: We now sell a vastly improved version of this board with better FETs and better driver ICs, which can be assembled at a higher yield MONSTER FET, 4 channels with optional FET driver IC's for high speed PWM) That product page also contains more information, including links to a full length guide I covering how to use MOSFETs, how to size them, and how to know whether you need a gate driver. (I have heard from folks who used ebay modules or modules without gate drivers ICs, and the fets would overheat and fail in operation due to switching losses, insufficient gate voltage and not realizing the games the manufacturers play with the specs. You'll have to go read the guide to find out, but here's a hint: It involves the definition of "Tc" when giving specs). It also covers figuring out how fast you can PWM the gate of a MOSFET before you need to use a gate driver

MOSFETs are the go-to technology for controlling large loads from a microcontroller. While a directly driven MOSFET is fine for low power and/or low frequency PWM and for simple switching, driving the gate becomes more troublesome when using large MOSFETs with high-speed PWM. The gate of a MOSFET acts like a capacitor electrically, with the state of the transistor depending on the voltage on the gate. This has two consequences relevant to typical light electronics.

• Because the voltage on a capacitor must change over a finite period of time, there is a period of time during which the FET is neither fully on nor fully off. In this state, it will allow some current to flow, but with higher resistance - this can result in excessive heating when, for example, a heavy load is switched using PWM. Using a MOSFET with a low gate voltage helps, but does not eliminate the problem.
• Switching the FET (at least doing so quickly) requires a brief pulse of a significant current to charge or discharge the gate capacitor. For simple switching applications, a 100 ohm resistor can be placed in series with the gate (this is done on my other MOSFET breakout boards) - this, however, further reduces the switching time.

Where these issues are a problem, there's a demand for a way to apply a brief high current pulse to the gate of a MOSFET - this is known as a gate driver. Based on a low voltage (typ. threshold in the 1-2 volt range - it also acts as a level shifter in effect) it will provide a brief burst of current to pull the MOSFET gate up to the highest voltage supplied to the gate driver, or drive it all the way to ground, very quickly, minimizing the time that the FET "in the middle" at the so-called "miller plateau" where a relatively a large amount of current is flowing but the resistance is still much higher than it is when fully "on". See the above linked page for more information.

Monster TDSON-8 MOSFET, up to 100A, 100V on drain (not both at the same time)

Don't need the speed? Versions without a gate driver are available!

4-channel version

Looking for a single FET? Check out these boards based on a single FL3100 driver

or just SOT23 FETs mounted on our breakouts, because the performance of those rice-grain size transistors is simply mind-blowing