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:
Jul. 02, 2002
Filed:
Apr. 06, 2000
Stephen J. Battersby, Haywards Heath, GB;
Darren T. Murley, Horley, GB;
John M. Shannon, Whyteleafe, GB;
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., New York, NY (US);
Abstract
A thin film capacitor is provided with a thin film protection element to protect the capacitor from damage that can result due to the occurrence of an electrostatic discharge event. The thin film capacitor includes two conductive film portions forming capacitor plates and a dielectric film forming the capacitor dielectric. The protection element may take the form of a thin film diode or a series of thin film diodes connected electrically in parallel with the thin film capacitor. The whole device can be fabricated using a stoichiometric silicon nitride layer to produce the capacitor dielectric and a non-stoichiometric silicon rich silicon nitride layer to provide the diode semiconductor material. One diode is formed by one capacitor plate, the semiconductor layer and an upper diode contact. In an alternative construction the protection element takes the form of a narrow gap defined by one conductive film portion electrically connected to one capacitor plate and another conductive film portion electrically connected to the other capacitor plate. During an electrostatic discharge event charge is able to cross the narrow gap rather than pass through the capacitor dielectric material.