Gate charge and switching — what the 166 nC Qg means for the driver budget
Total gate charge is 166 nC at 4.5 V, with the drive voltage window specified from 4.5 V to 10 V for minimum and maximum Rds(on). At a 100 kHz switching frequency, the average gate-drive current required is 166 nC × 100 kHz = 16.6 mA; at 500 kHz it rises to 83 mA. The driver must also supply the peak current to charge the 28 000 pF input capacitance (Ciss) at 30 V Vds during the Miller plateau — a weak on-chip driver from a 3.3 V MCU will not cleanly saturate the gate, so budget a dedicated gate-driver IC rated for at least 2 A peak sink/source.
175 °C junction — the thermal budget for the D²Pak copper island
The 250 W power dissipation at case temperature assumes the tab is soldered to a 1 oz copper pad of at least 6 cm² on a 2-layer board; with a 22.8 W conduction loss at 120 A and a typical RthJC of 0.4 °C/W, the junction rises about 9 °C above the case. The margin to the 175 °C limit is the headroom for switching losses and ambient temperature.