Infineon Technologies Ag

Cristina Chiereghin

Cristian Garbossa

Stefano Orlandi

Andrea Zuccollo

Danilo Cellucci

A circuit for detecting failure of a device includes an on-phase detector, an off-phase detector, and protection switch circuitry. The on-phase detector is configured to determine whether a first failure has occurred at the device based on a rate of change of a current at a high-side switching element. The off-phase detector is configured to determine whether a second failure has occurred at the device based on both a current at a low-side switching element and a voltage at a switch node that is electrically coupled to the high-side switching element and the low-side switch. The protection switch circuitry is configured to electrically disconnect the high-side switching element from a supply circuit in response to the on-phase detector determining that the first failure has occurred at the device or in response to the off-phase detector determining that the second failure has occurred at the device.

Detecting failure for multi-rail supply protection

According to an example, a step down converter includes switching circuit configured to control a switching output in order to generate an output voltage on a converter output within a specified range of a target voltage. The step down converter includes an inductor includes a first terminal and a second terminal, the first terminal coupled to the switching output, and a protection device coupled in series between the second terminal of the inductor and the converter output and including a control terminal. The protection device limits the output voltage supplied at the converter output based on a control voltage at the control terminal.

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Camposampiero, Italy

Cristina Chiereghin