Thermal tracking power transistors

[R.G.]

There is now a solution to a persistent problem in high quality audio.

As Ben Duncan noted in his "High Performance Audio Amplifiers", the world has quit waiting for the semiconductor industry to produce power transistors with a thermal sensing diode junction on the chip inside the package so that time lags in sensing power transistor temperature won't upset audio performance. This was an obvious need as long as forty years ago, but no maker of power semiconductors would do it.

Until now. Both Sanken and now OnSemi produce high power output transistors and drivers with on-chip diodes for thermal compensation and sensing.

It just goes to show - eventually you get what you need - or die first.

[Ge_Whiz]

No doubt both manufacturers are heralding it as a "brilliant new concept in semiconductor design"! 

[Sir H C]

Love Ben Duncan's book.  Sounds like a cool idea, question is do you have to slow down the thermal response of the diode (or is it a diode connected transistor or is it 3 extra legs so that you can do a vbe multiplier?).  With so much of the world going MOSFET I wonder if this is a great idea too late.