This paper shows the design and control methods of the bidirectional DC-DC converter to generate the proper DC-link voltage of a PMSM drive. Conventionally, because the controllable power of the PWM based voltage source inverter is limited by its DC-link voltage, the DC-DC converter is used for boosted DC-link voltage if the inverter source cannot generate enough operating voltage for the PMSM drive. In this paper, to obtain more utilization of this DC-DC converter, optimal DC-link voltage control for PMSM drive will be explained. First, the process and current path of the DC-DC converter will be illustrated, and a control method of this converter for variable DC-link voltage will then be explained. Finally, an improvement analysis of the optimal DC-link voltage control method, especially on the deadtime effect, will be explained. The DC-DC converter of the proposed control method is verified by the experiments by comparing with the conventional constant voltage control method.