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:
Mar. 18, 2003
Filed:
Jun. 10, 1999
Steven Ichikawa, Fremont, CA (US);
Boonmi Mekdhanasarn, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abdul R. Ahmed, Morgan Hill, CA (US);
National Semiconductor Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
An ESD structure is created on an integrated circuit by providing a conductive polymer material between a signal line and a supply node or ground reference. The conductive polymer material becomes conductive when an electric field of sufficient intensity is applied. In one embodiment, the concentration of conductive particles of the conductive polymer material is empirically determined so that the resulting film becomes conducting at a predetermined threshold voltage. The conductive polymer is applied in liquid form on the wafer surface using a silk-screen printing process or a spin-on process and then cured. The conductive polymer layer can be adapted for use in multilevel metallization systems.