U.S. Philips Corporation

Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.V.

Bernd Sievers

Godefridus A M Hurkx

Holger Schligtenhorst

Johannes Rabovsky

A semiconductor device includes a preferably discrete bipolar transistor with a collector region, a base region, and an emitter region which are provided with connection conductors. A known means of preventing a saturation of the transistor is that the latter is provided with a Schottky clamping diode. The latter is formed in that case in that the connection conductor of the base region is also put into contact with the collector region. Here, the second connection conductor is exclusively connected to the base region, and a partial region of that portion of the base region which lies outside the emitter region, as seen in projection, lying below the second connection conductor is given a smaller flux of dopant atoms. The bipolar transistor is provided with a pn clamping diode which is formed between the partial region and the collector region.

Semiconductor device with a bipolar transistor, and method of manufacturing such a device

The invention relates to a semiconductor device including a preferably discrete bipolar transistor with a collector region, a base region, and an emitter region which are provided with connection conductors. A known means of preventing a saturation of the transistor is that the latter is provided with a Schottky clamping diode. The latter is formed in that case in that the connection conductor of the base region is also put into contact with the collector region. In a device according to the invention, the second connection conductor is exclusively connected to the base region, and a partial region of that portion of the base region which lies outside the emitter region, as seen in projection, lying below the second connection conductor is given a smaller flux of dopant atoms. The bipolar transistor in a device according to the invention is provided with a pn clamping diode which is formed between the partial region and the collector region. Such a device has excellent properties, such as a short switching time and a saturation collector-emitter voltage which is not too high, while having a low, non-variable and well reproducible leakage current, unlike the known device. The reduced flux of dopant atoms of the partial region is preferably realized in that the partial region is given a smaller doping concentration and/or thickness than the remainder of the portion of the base region which lies outside the emitter region. In a favorable modification, a region provided simultaneously with the emitter region is present between the partial region and the second connection conductor.

The invention relates to a semiconductor device with a substrate, with at least one isolation layer with at least one window, with a passivation layer scheme lying on the isolation layer and a metallization lying on the passivation layer scheme, the latter comprising at least two dielectric layers of which the first dielectric layer covers the isolation layer with its edges as well as the substrate in an outer edge zone of the window, and of which the second dielectric layer covers the first dielectric layer also over the edge of the isolation layer and in a portion of the outer region of the window.

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Hamburg, Germany

Bernd Sievers