Adaptive switch speed control of power semiconductors

A semiconductor switch device, comprising:

• a power semiconductor having a collector or a drain, an emitter or a source, and a control electrode embodied as a gate or a gate electrode, and configured to be switchable along a collector-emitter path or a drain-source path via the control electrode,
• at least one control circuit comprising
• a current sink capacitively coupled to the collector via a regulating capacitor configured to divert, up to an adjustable maximum current, a partial current of a total current flowing via the regulating capacitor during a switching process, wherein the adjustable maximum current is adjustable via an adjustable current source, and
• a current amplifier having an input side connected to an end of the current sink that is capacitively coupled to the regulating capacitor and to a positive or a negative supply voltage, and an output side connected to the control electrode of the power semiconductor, with the current amplifier configured to amplify by a predetermined amplification factor the partial current flowing via the regulating capacitor and not being diverted by the current sink during the switching process and to apply the amplified partial current to the control electrode so as to counteract a change in a voltage across the collector-emitter path or across the drain-source path during the switching process, and
• the semiconductor switch device further comprising an additional circuit connected to the control electrode and configured to provide a smooth switch-on transition of a collector voltage or a drain voltage, or both, when switching over the collector-emitter path or drain-source path from a blocked state to a conductive state.