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:
Sep. 17, 2013
Filed:
Jun. 20, 2008
Patrice Besse, Toulouse, FR;
Stephanie Creveau-boury, Toulouse, FR;
Alexis Huot-marchand, Labarthe sur Leze, FR;
Patrice Besse, Toulouse, FR;
Stephanie Creveau-Boury, Toulouse, FR;
Alexis Huot-Marchand, Labarthe sur Leze, FR;
Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., Austin, TX (US);
Abstract
A semiconductor device comprises at least one switching element. The at least one switching element comprises a first channel terminal, a second channel terminal and a switching terminal, the switching element being arranged such that an impedance of the switching element between the first and second channel terminals is dependant upon a voltage across the switching terminal and the first channel terminal. The semiconductor device further comprises a resistance element operably coupled between the first channel terminal of the at least one switching element and a reference node, and a clamping structure operably coupled between the switching terminal of the switching element and the reference node. The resistance element and the clamping structure are arranged such that, when current flowing through the at least one switching element, between the first and second channel terminals, exceeds a threshold current value, a voltage drop across the resistance element exceeds a difference between (i) a clamping voltage of the clamping structure and (ii) a switching voltage threshold of the at least one switching element, causing the impedance between the first and second channel terminals of the at least one switching component to increase.