Semiconductor device including short-circuit protection depending on an under-voltage detection

摘要

A semiconductor device (10) is described herein. The semiconductor device includes a semiconductor chip having a load current path operable to carry - in accordance with an input signal (IN 1 ) - a load current (i L ) from a supply terminal (SUP) having a supply voltage (V S ) to an output circuit node (OUT 1 ). The device further includes a voltage comparator (16) that is configured to compare the supply voltage with a voltage threshold (V LV ) and to signal (LV) a low supply voltage when the supply voltage reaches or falls below the voltage threshold. An over-current detector (15) is configured to compare a load current signal (S C ) that represents the load current with an over-current threshold (S TH ) and to signal (S OC ) an over-current when the load current signal reaches or exceeds the over-current threshold. Furthermore, the semiconductor device includes a control logic unit (12) that is configured to deactivate the load current flow when an over-current is signalled and to reduce the over-current threshold from a first value (S HI ) to a lower second value (S LO ) as long as the voltage comparator (16) signals (LV) a low supply voltage.