Patent ID: 8901647

Claim:
A semiconductor device, comprising: a first semiconductor element including a first pn junction between a first terminal and a second terminal; a second semiconductor element including a second pn junction between a third terminal and a fourth terminal; a semiconductor body including the first semiconductor element and the second semiconductor element monolithically integrated; and wherein the first and third terminals are electrically coupled to a first device terminal; the second and fourth terminals are electrically coupled to a second device terminal; and a temperature coefficient α 1 of a breakdown voltage V br1 of the first pn junction and a temperature coefficient α 2 of a breakdown voltage V br2 of the second pn junction have a same algebraic sign and satisfy 0.6×α 1 <α 2 <1.1×α 1 at T=300K, wherein V br2 <V br1 , wherein the first semiconductor element is a trench field effect transistor cell and the first pn junction includes a first body region of a first conductivity type and a first drift region of a second conductivity different from the first conductivity type; the first body region adjoins a first trench structure at a first side of the first body region and the first body region adjoins a second trench at a second side of the first body region opposite to the first side; the second semiconductor element is a sense cell and the second pn junction includes a second body region of the first conductivity type and a second drift region of the second conductivity type; and the second body region adjoins a third trench structure at a first side of the second body region and the second body region adjoins a fourth trench structure at a second side of the second body region opposite to the first side; and further comprising at least one intervening element electrically coupled between a gate of the trench field effect transistor cell and the sense cell, and wherein the intervening element is one or a combination of a current limiting element, a rectifying element and a switching element.