In the described examples, a driver includes a signal controller that provides a gate control signal to a gate buffer coupled to a gate of a transistor and a field plate control signal to a field plate buffer coupled to a field plate of the transistor. The signal controller provides a rising edge on the field plate control signal causing the field plate buffer to provide a bias voltage on the field plate of the transistor a predetermined amount of time after providing a rising edge on the gate control signal that causes the gate buffer to provide a turn-on voltage on the gate of the transistor that causes the transistor to transition from a cutoff region to a saturation region and to a linear region.