Monitoring and Controlling Temperatures in a Semiconductor Structure
AssigneeInfineon Technologies AG
InventorVeli Kartal
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An electronic device includes a semiconductor structure. A first temperature sensor is located at a hot spot of the semiconductor structure and a second temperature sensor is located at a cold spot of the semiconductor structure. A control block is configured to control current flow through the semiconductor structure. For example, the control block is configured to cut off the current flow through the semiconductor structure when a temperature at the hot spot exceeds a first predefined threshold or when a temperature difference between the temperature at the hot spot and a temperature at the cold spot exceeds a second predefined threshold.
Claims19
An electronic semiconductor device comprising:
- a semiconductor structure for power control;
- means for determining a hot temperature at a hot spot of the semiconductor structure;
- means for determining a cold temperature at a cold spot of the semiconductor structure;
- means for determining a temperature difference between the determined hot temperature and the determined cold temperature;
- and
- control means for controlling current flow through semiconductor structure, wherein the control means is adapted for cutting off the current flow through the semiconductor structure when a semiconductor structure temperature exceeds a predefined first threshold or when the determined temperature difference exceeds a second predefined threshold.
An integrated circuit comprising:
- a semiconductor structure;
- a first temperature sensor located at a hot spot of the semiconductor structure;
- and
- a second temperature sensor located at a cold spot of the semiconductor structure;
- and
- a control block configured to cut off current flow through the semiconductor structure when a temperature at the hot spot exceeds a first predefined threshold or when a temperature difference between the temperature at the hot spot and a temperature at the cold spot exceeds a second predefined threshold.
A method for controlling a semiconductor structure, the method comprising:
- sensing a temperature at a cold spot of the semiconductor structure;
- sensing a temperature at a hot spot of the semiconductor structure;
- determining a temperature difference between the temperature at the cold spot and the temperature at the hot spot of the semiconductor structure;
- and
- cutting off a current flow through the semiconductor structure when the temperature at the hot spot exceeds a predefined first threshold value or when the determined temperature difference exceeds a second predefined threshold value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.