Temperature sensing circuit

摘要

A temperature sensing circuit (100) for sensing the temperature of an active semiconductor device, for example, a power MOSFET (11) of a semiconductor body (10). The circuit has a first temperature sensing device (R1R2) provided on the semiconductor body at a first position (P1) adjacent a periphery (12) of the active semiconductor device (11), a second temperature sensing device (R3,R4) provided on the semiconductor body at a second position (P2) further from the periphery of the active semiconductor device than the first position. An arrangement, for example, a comparator responsive to the first and second temperature sensing devices provides a control signal to switch off the active semiconductor device (11) when the difference in the temperature sensed by the first and second sensing devices reaches a predetermined value.