To provide an IGBT(insulated gate bipolar transistor) processing a large current that can surely be protected from destruction due to a short- circuit current and an over-current.

For example, sense resistors 11, 12 are connected in series with an emitter of the IGBT element 10. A comparator 13a in a protection circuit 3 compares a short-circuit sense voltage sensed by the sense resistors 11, 12 with a 1st fixed value. When the short-circuit sense voltage exceeds the 1st fixed value, the comparator 13a outputs a signal to turn off a gate of the IGBT element 10. Furthermore, a comparator 13b compares an over- current sense voltage sensed by the sense resistor 12 with a 2nd fixed value. When the over-current sense voltage exceeds the 2nd fixed value, the comparator 13b outputs a signal to turn off the gate of the IGBT element 10.