Patent ID: 7439579

Claim:
A semiconductor comprising: a cell array having a plurality of cell array trenches formed in a vertical direction within a semiconductor body having a first conductivity type, the cell array trenches having a longitudinal extension in a first horizontal direction and a width in a second horizontal direction of the semiconductor body; a plurality of mesa zones arranged between the cell array trenches, each of the mesa zones running in the first horizontal direction and comprising a plurality of source zones of the first conductivity type which are separated from one another by highly doped separating zones of a second conductivity type, wherein a width of each of the source zones and separating zones in the second horizontal direction is equal to the width of the mesa zones, and each of the source zones and separating zones are respectively sequentially alternating in the first horizontal direction and are connected to a body zone having the second conductivity type and extending in the first horizontal direction beneath the source zones and the separating zones; a semiconductor sensor element formed in the first horizontal direction in one of the mesa zones and comprising two of the source zones separated by one of the separating zones; and a current flow guide structure formed in the one mesa zone and comprising a semiconductor layer extending in the first horizontal direction beneath the body zone and at least partly below the semiconductor sensor element and configured with a higher doping concentration of the second conductivity type relative to the body zone, wherein at least the two source zones of the semiconductor sensor element are respectively separately contact connected via terminals and together with the body zone form a transistor which enables a current to flow in the first horizontal direction through the semiconductor sensor element, and wherein the current flow guide structure is configured to attenuate a vertically oriented current flow between a source zone of the semiconductor sensor element and a drain terminal zone formed in the semiconductor body vertically opposite to the source zone.