IMON pin open: In this case, the IMON pin voltage is internally pulled up to a higher voltage and exceeds the threshold (V_IREF), causing the part to perform a circuit-breaker action even if there is no significant current flowing through the device.

IMON pin shorted to GND directly or through a very low resistance: In this case, the IMON pin voltage is held at a low voltage and is not allowed to exceed the threshold (V_IREF) even if there is significant current flowing through the device, thereby rendering the primary overcurrent protection mechanism ineffective. The device relies on an internal overcurrent sense mechanism to provide some protection as a backup. If the device detects that the backup current sense threshold (I_{OC_BKP}) is exceeded but at the same time the primary overcurrent detection on IMON pin fails, it triggers single point failure detection and latches a fault. The FET is turned off and the FLT pin is asserted. At the same time, the SPFAIL status bit in STATUS_MFR_SPECIFIC_2 register is set and the SMBA# signal is asserted.