The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 28, 1993
Filed:
Apr. 26, 1991
Leonardus J Van Roozendaal, Eindhoven, NL;
Reinier De Werdt, Eindhoven, NL;
U.S. Philips Corporation, New York, NY (US);
Abstract
The invention relates to an integrated circuit connected via a first connection conductor (61) to a first contact area. Between the first connection conductor (61) and a second connection conductor (63), a protection element (8) is connected, which protects the circuit especially from electrostatic discharges. The protection element (8) comprises an active zone (81), which is covered with metal silicide (15) and forms a pn junction (86) with the adjoining part (83) of the semiconductor body (10). On the metal silicide (15), the active zone (81) is provided with an electrode (16), through which the zone (81) is connected to the first connection conductor (61). The use of metal silicide in the integrated circuit in itself has great advantages, but in the protection element the metal silicide layer is found to give rise to a considerably lower reliability. The invention has for its object to obviate this disadvantage without it being necessary to modify the manufacturing process. According to the invention, in order to improve the uniformity of the current distribution over the pn junction (86), between the electrode (16) and the pn junction (86), a resistance element (9, 91, 92) is connected in series with the protection element (8) directly to the active zone (81) of the protection element (8), whose width is substantially equal to the width of the active zone (81). Such a resistance element can be entirely realized within the process of manufacturing the integrated circuit.