Importance

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Abstract

In a circuit assembly (36) having a semiconductor chip such as a MOSFET (12) mounted on a drain terminal lead frame (6) on a ceramic substrate (4), a combined source and gate return reference jumper wire (40) is connected between a current sense lead frame (52) and a combined gate return reference and current sense lead frame (38). The jumper wire has a first middle portion (42) connected to the source pad (14) of the MOSFET chip (12), and has a second middle portion 58 connected to the source terminal lead frame (8). Direct gate return referencing is provided, minimizing inductance in the gate return which is otherwise present when the gate return current path shares a portion of the source terminal current path. Direct current sensing is also provided, and the IR drop is sensed across the section of the wire jumper between the noted first and second middle portions (42and 58), without the need of an auxiliary resistor in series with the source terminal. A gold wire (62 ) is bonded to an aluminum jumper wire (40) directly at the MOSFET source pad (14) at the noted first middle portion (42) of the wire, to provide a thermocouple thereat for direct junction temperature sensing.

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First Claim