Micrel, Incorporated

Marshall D Stone

Martin E Garnett

Michael Joseph Mottola

Hiu Fung Ip

Each die containing a resistive element which is to be trimmed has associated therewith a plurality of alignment targets. A cut mask having a trim pattern and an alignment key formed thereon is employed in a masking and etching step to trim the resistive element to a desired resistance. The number of links cut in the resistive element, and thus the final resistance thereof, depends on the particular positioning of the cut mask with respect to the die as determined by which of the alignment targets is aligned with the alignment key. For instance, aligning the alignment key with a first alignment target would result in cutting one link in the resistive element so as to achieve a first resistance value, while re-aligning the cut mask such that the alignment key aligns with another of the alignment targets would result in cutting two links in the resistive element so as to achieve a second resistance value. Since the trim of resistive elements may be adjusted to any one of many possible resistance values by simply changing the alignment of the cut mask with respect to the die, the need to have a separate cut mask for each of the possible trimmed resistance values is eliminated, thereby reducing costs.

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Marshall D Stone