Abstract: A current-limiting circuit for limiting rising of a current above a predetermined level. The circuit including forward- and reverse-conducting devices, each device including a MOS and a bipolar transistor, wherein ON-resistance of one of the devices is used instead of a current-sensing resistance for another of the devices; and a gate driver connected to the gates of the forward- and reverse-conducting devices for controlling the devices such that a channel of each of the devices simultaneously conducts a current.

Abstract: A current-limiting circuit for limiting rising of a current above a predetermined level. The circuit including forward- and reverse-conducting devices, each device including a MOS and a bipolar transistor, wherein ON-resistance of one of the devices is used instead of a current-sensing resistance for another of the devices; and a gate driver connected to the gates of the forward- and reverse-conducting devices for controlling the devices such that a channel of each of the devices simultaneously conducts a current.

Abstract: A method of controlling minority carrier lifetime in a semiconductor device in which the density of recombination centers is controlled so that the recombination centers are concentrated in a thin buffer layer adjacent a blocking layer in one of two bonded wafers. The density is controlled by misaligning crystal axes of the two wafers or by doping the bonding surface of one of the wafers before the wafers are bonded. Both methods generate recombination centers in the thin buffer layer that forms around or adjacent the bonding interface. A semiconductor device made by this method includes a buffer layer with a significantly higher density of recombination centers than the adjacent blocking layer to thereby improve control of minority carrier lifetime.