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:
Dec. 28, 2004
Filed:
Aug. 09, 2002
Gustav Edward Derkits, Jr., New Providence, NJ (US);
Leslie Marchut, Maplewood, NJ (US);
Franklin R. Nash, Princeton, NJ (US);
Agere Systems Inc., Allentown, PA (US);
Abstract
A semiconductor device such as a photodetector has a substrate having an active region layer containing an active region of the device. A dielectric layer is disposed on the active region layer, and a metal active region contact is disposed in the dielectric layer above the active region and electrically contacting the active region. A metal electrostatic discharge (ESD)protection structure is disposed in the dielectric layer around the active region contact, wherein the ESD protection structure electrically contacts the active region layer of the substrate to provide an ESD discharge path for charge on the surface of the dielectric layer.