Patent ID: 8640526

Claim:
A method for operating a particle sensor ( 10 ), wherein the particle sensor ( 10 ) has at least two inter-digital electrodes ( 12 , 13 ) which engage one in the other and to which a sensor voltage U (IDE) ( 21 ) is applied in order to determine loading of the particle sensor ( 10 ) with soot particles ( 16 ), and a sensor current I (IDE) ( 31 ) across the electrodes ( 12 , 13 ) is measured and evaluated, wherein, in order to remove the loading with soot, a heating element ( 14 ) heats the particle sensor ( 10 ) in a regeneration phase, characterized in that the sensor current I (IDE) ( 31 ) is determined, and a shunt diagnosis of the particle sensor ( 10 ) is carried out in accordance with the measured sensor current I (IDE) ( 31 ), wherein a shunt current I (N) ( 36 , 37 ) is determined for a triggering threshold ( 38 ) for the sensor current I (IDE) ( 31 ) at which a regeneration of the particle sensor ( 10 ) is started, and a corrected triggering threshold ( 39 ) is determined with said shunt current I (N) ( 36 , 37 ) as an offset correction.