Smart electronic switch

Abstract

A circuit is described herein which may be used as an electronic fuse. According to one example, the circuit includes an integrated circuit (IC) with a chip contact for connecting, during operation, a filter circuit. The IC further includes a driver configured to drive a power transistor in accordance with a logic signal; a squaring circuit configured to receive a current sense signal that represents a load current passing through the power transistor and to output, at the chip contact, a first current that represents the squared load current; a comparator circuit configured to compare a voltage present at the chip contact with a reference voltage; and a control logic configured to generate the logic signal and to cause a switch-off of the power transistor dependent on an output signal of the comparator circuit.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.