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Semiconductor device

  • US 10,461,736 B2
  • Filed: 02/18/2019
  • Issued: 10/29/2019
  • Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2016
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A semiconductor device controlling a power switching device to turn on and off, the power switching device having a gate terminal and output terminals between which an output current is produced by a gate voltage applied to the gate terminal, the semiconductor device comprising:

  • an output current detector configured to detect a current value correlated with the output current;

    a voltage detector configured to detect a voltage, which is across the output terminals of the power switching device or is correlated with the voltage across the output terminals;

    a clamp circuit configured to clamp the gate voltage at a predetermined value; and

    a controller configured to control the clamp circuit to adjust the gate voltage based on the voltage detected by the voltage detector, wherein;

    the controller controls the clamp circuit to set the gate voltage to be at a minimum voltage according to the detected voltage to cause the output current, which flows during having a short circuit in the power switching device, to be larger than a threshold current required for detecting the short circuit in the power switching device.

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