Patent ID: 8319259

Claim:
A semiconductor power switch comprising: a source contact; a drain contact; a semiconductor structure provided between the source contact and the drain contact; a gate used to control a current flow through the semiconductor structure between the source contact and the drain contact; and wherein the semiconductor structure has a plurality of nanowires which are connected in parallel and are arranged in such a manner that each nanowire forms an electrical connection between the source contact and the drain contact, wherein the gate is implemented in the form of a plurality of gate bands whose longitudinal orientation respectively runs substantially perpendicular to the orientation of the nanowires and whose transverse orientation corresponds to the orientation of the nanowires, the nanowires being electrically insulated from the gate, and wherein each gate band is split into a plurality of gate subbands which are insulated from one another, the gate subbands being arranged above one another and each being designed such that it can be driven individually.