The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 15, 1995
Filed:
May. 13, 1994
Paul A Gough, Smallfield, GB;
U.S. Philips Corporation, New York, NY (US);
Abstract
A semiconductor body (2) has a first region (3) providing a current path to a first main electrode (4) and carrying a plurality of active device cells (5). The majority (5a) of the active device cells are connected to a second main electrode (6) for providing a main current path through the device between the first and second main electrodes (4 and 6). At least one remaining active device cell forms a monitor cell (5b) and is connected to a monitor electrode (7) for providing a monitor current path through the device between the first main electrode (4) and the monitor electrode (7). The one monitor cell (5b) is formed differently from the majority (5a) of the active device cells so as to be more susceptible to failure than the majority of the active device cells so providing an early warning of the imminent failure of the device enabling evasive action to be taken to inhibit failure of the entire device.