BSS138 level shifter causing problems

Question

I have encountered a problem that I am unsure how to solve.

As shown in the image at the bottom of the question, I have an FPGA (Nexys A7-100T) that generates signal to run a motor connected to a L298N motor driver. The FPGA signals are forward, reverse and a 20kHz PWM signal. However as the FPGA outputs are 3.3V max and the L298N requires 5V inputs, I have used a BSS138 bi-directional FET level shifter board.

This system works perfect without the PWM signal connected to the BSS138. When the enable jumper is in the L298N and the forward or reverse input is high, the motor runs at full speed.

But when I try to use the PWM signal through the BSS138 to the L298N, all the 5V outputs sit at the same voltage as the PWM channel, which is around 2.5v (The PWM signal has a 50% duty cycle).

Is this BSS138 not suitable for PWM signals?

Or what is my mistake here?

EDIT 1

Below is an image of the BSS138 level shifter board used:

EDIT 2

Below is an image of the L298N board used:

Answer 1

I thought a BSS138 was just a single Nch FET. You don't have any pullup R's but you don't need it anyways.

The L298 works off of 2.3V logic to 5V logic

Vil <= 1.5 V

Vih >= 2.3V

Also with Vce(sat) on hi/lo outputs you need at least 2.5V more than motor rated voltage for full RPM + torque. CMOS or FET power half or full H bridge drivers are better

This is not TTL input which has a threshold of 2 diode drops or 1.3 so the Vil <=0.8V and Vih>=2V. What does the datasheet tell you for Ih, Il? ( no issue ).

So you don't need the level shifter.

Answer 2

The BSS138 rise and fall times look in MHz range, but to be honest I always used them on slow signals. If you have oscilloscope it would be nice to measure what is going from the FPGA pin, what is going after BSS138 when the L298, is there some capacitance, would a big pull down resistor change the characteristics?

When checking the L298 PDF: https://www.st.com/resource/en/datasheet/l298.pdf

Then it looks like you could drive the input directly with 3.3V logic and avoid the BS138 based board:

Input Low -0.3 to 1.5V

Input High 2.3V to VSS

A lot of electronics are 5V logic, but 3.3V compatible, I would double-check that the input is always input and not output, nor something with pull-ups. Don't know what exactly the board with the L298 is doing. Same with the BS138, that's just transistor, but you are using some board using these transistors, do you have schematics to it.

But if you are sure it's just pure input you could use the 3.3V, maybe I would resistor to limit current in series.

Answer 3

Though my replay is for sure timed out, I think it's worth to observe that the BSS138 level shifter can turn useful when you need to go back and forth with your signals between two blocks with different power voltage. In this case, you simply control the L298 from your FPGA, no need for feedback signals here. So there's no need for a bidirectional level shifter, at most some buffer, maybe also open collector, to protect the FPGA from possible spurious spikes from the motor power control.