For 3.3V microprocessors, what's the best way to power the gate of a MOSFET?

The new processors are all 3.3V and dropping. So while I am used to 5V arduinos being able to power the gate of a MOSFET, at least most of the way, this is not going to be true any more. And for an IRF630, someone pointed out that I really need to drive the gate to 10V to get the rated on-resistance. So what's the canonical way to do this? Do I have a 10V power supply, and drop the voltage for the processor, have a charge pump that generates the 10V from 3.3V? The current will be very small, because the gate has massive impedance.

Finally, assuming the 10V power supply, what's a good way to switch that voltage to the gate? Do I have to use a small junction transistor because I don't have the voltage to switch a MOSFET?

The junction transistor is shown in this solution: Multiplying the voltage of an output pin on an Arduino board

I'm just asking if there is another way.

Answer

Three options.

1. 
   

   Use a mosfet with a VGS compatible with 3.3V. Typically known as a logic level mosfet.

   
   


2. 
   

   Use a simple npn transistor as a switch to drive the mosfet at a higher voltage. Logic would be inverted.

   
   


3. 
   
   

   Use a dedicated mosfet driver IC.