Structure and circuit technique for uniform triggering of multifinger semiconductor devices with tunable trigger voltage

US7826185B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• International Business Machines Corporation · US

Inventors

• Michel J. Abou-Khalil · South Burlington, US
• Robert J. Gauthier, Jr. · South Burlington, US
• Hongmei Li · Hackettstown, US
• Junjun Li · Williston, US
• Souvick Mitra · South Burlington, US
• Christopher S. Putnam · South Burlington, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 28, 2007
• Grant date: Nov 2, 2010
• Expiry date: May 13, 2029

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H01L2924/0002

Abstract

An external current injection source is provided to individual fingers of a multi-finger semiconductor device to provide the same trigger voltage across the multiple fingers. For example, the external injection current is supplied to the body of a MOSFET or the gate of a thyristor. The magnitude of the supplied current from each external current injection source is adjusted so that each finger has the same trigger voltage. The external current supply circuit may comprise diodes or an RC triggered MOSFET. The components of the external current supply circuit may be tuned to achieve a desired predetermined trigger voltage across all fingers of the multi-finger semiconductor device.