Infineon Technologies Canada Inc.

Thomas William Macelwee

Edward MacRobbie

Nan Xing

Robert Wayne Mounger

Lucas Andrew Milner

Iman Abdali Mashhadi

Sridhar Ramaswamy

Regina Inyangat Akudo

Vineet Unni

Claudio Andres Canizares

Ahmad Mizannojehdehi

Mohammad Bozorgi

Yueh Lin Chiang

Ting-Hsiang Hsu

Meng-ta You

A current sense circuit that allows for accurate sensing of a power current that flows through a power transistor as the power transistor ages. The circuit includes the power transistor, a sense transistor and a pull-up component. The control nodes of the power transistor and the sense transistor are connected, causing the power transistor and sense transistor to be on or off simultaneously. The pull-up component is connected between the input node of the power transistor and the input node of the sense transistor. When power is provided to the pull-up component, and when each of the power transistor and sense transistor are off, the pull-up component forces a voltage present at the sense transistor input node to be approximately equal to a voltage present at the power transistor input node, causing the sense and power transistors to age together.

Current sensing by using aging sense transistor

A transistor structure that includes multiple heterojunction layer sets, each generating a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG), such that the transistor structure has a stack of 2DEGs that may be used to conduct between source and drain. A terminal is provided proximate an uppermost 2DEG to control whether the uppermost 2DEG is continuous between a source contact and a source plug. A source plug connects the uppermost 2DEG with the next 2DEG, and a drain plug also connects the uppermost 2DEG with the next 2DEG. Thus, the gate terminal may control the flow of current in sub-surface 2DEGs between the source and drain.

Transistor structure using multiple two-dimensional channels

Wafer testing of a power transistor for a current property of the power transistor. Wafer testing of a power transistor is performed by using a sense transistor constructed using the same epitaxial stack as was used to construct the power transistor. The current property of the sense transistor is then measured, and the current property of the power transistor can be determined from that measurement. Furthermore, the sense transistor is pre-conditioned prior to the measurement by alternately turning on and off the sense transistor multiple cycles while allowing a source terminal of the power transistor to float. This simulates operating conditions of the power transistor, thereby allowing for measurement of the current property of the power transistor as it would likely be in operation.

Wafer testing for current property of a power transistor

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Nepean, Canada

Thomas William Macelwee