Patent ID: 11923452
Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
Field: Semiconductors (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 0:
1. A semiconductor device comprising:
a main cell region; and
a sense cell region, wherein
each of the main cell region and the sense cell region includes a semiconductor switching element,
the semiconductor switching element includes:
a drift layer of a first conductivity type;
a body layer of a second conductivity type disposed on the drift layer;
a first impurity region of the first conductivity type disposed in a surface layer portion of the body layer and having a higher impurity concentration than the drift layer;
a gate insulating film disposed on a surface of the body layer positioned between the first impurity region and drift layer;
a gate electrode disposed on the gate insulating film;
a second impurity region of the first conductivity type or the second conductivity type disposed on an opposite side of the drift layer from the body layer and having a higher impurity concentration than the drift layer;
a first electrode electrically connected with the first impurity region and the body layer; and
a second electrode electrically connected with the second impurity region,

the main cell region is provided with a main contact trench, the main contact trench extends in one direction and exposes the first impurity region and the body layer,
the sense cell region is provided with a sense contact trench, the sense contact trench extends in the one direction, exposes the first impurity region and the body layer, and is separated from the main contact trench,
in each of the main contact trench and the sense contact trench, a connection electrode electrically connected with the first impurity region and the body layer is disposed,
the first electrode includes a main upper electrode and a sense upper electrode, the main upper electrode is connected with the connection electrode disposed in the main contact trench, the sense upper electrode is connected with the connection electrode disposed in the sense contact trench and is separated from the main upper electrode,
when viewed from a stacking direction of the drift layer and the body layer, in the one direction, the main contact trench and the first impurity region disposed in the main cell region protrude more than the main upper electrode toward the sense upper electrode, and the sense contact trench and the first impurity region disposed in the sense cell region protrude more than the sense upper electrode toward the main upper electrode, and
when viewed from the stacking direction, in the one direction, the main contact trench protrudes more than the first impurity region disposed in the main cell region toward the sense upper electrode, and the sense contact trench protrudes more than the first impurity region disposed in the sense cell region toward the main upper electrode,
wherein a current that flows through the semiconductor switching element in the main cell region is detectable based on a current that flows through the semiconductor switching element in the sense cell region.