Lateral MOS controlled thyristor
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A lateral MOS controlled thyristor, having first and second output terminals and a gate, disposed in the major surface of a high-resistivity semiconductor epitaxial layer (20) of a first conductivity type, is characterized by:
- first (11) and second (12) spaced-apart regions of a second conductivity type in the epitaxial layer and adjacent to a major surface thereof;
a third region (13) of the first conductivity type within the first region and adjacent to the major surface;
a fourth region (14) of the second conductivity type in contact with the second region, disposed in the epitaxial layer and adjacent to the major surface;
a rectifying contact (22o, 15 or 22R) with the second region; and
,a conductive layer (17) overlaying and insulated from selected portions of the epitaxial layer and the first and fourth regions;
wherein the first and third regions are connected together to form the first output terminal, the rectifying contact forms the second output terminal, and the conductive layer forms the gate.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A lateral MOS-controlled thyristor (MCT) structure using a single MOS gate for both turn-on and turn off. By eliminating a parasitic lateral PNP transistor through the addition of a high resistivity region surrounding one output terminal, and adding a DMOS transistor to a conventional thyristor structure, the maximum turn-off current limit is increased with lower forward voltage drop than that available in prior art lateral MCTs.
-
Citations
8 Claims
-
1. A lateral MOS controlled thyristor, having first and second output terminals and a gate, disposed in the major surface of a high-resistivity semiconductor epitaxial layer (20) of a first conductivity type, is characterized by:
-
first (11) and second (12) spaced-apart regions of a second conductivity type in the epitaxial layer and adjacent to a major surface thereof; a third region (13) of the first conductivity type within the first region and adjacent to the major surface; a fourth region (14) of the second conductivity type in contact with the second region, disposed in the epitaxial layer and adjacent to the major surface; a rectifying contact (22o, 15 or 22R) with the second region; and
,a conductive layer (17) overlaying and insulated from selected portions of the epitaxial layer and the first and fourth regions; wherein the first and third regions are connected together to form the first output terminal, the rectifying contact forms the second output terminal, and the conductive layer forms the gate. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
2. A lateral MOS controlled thyristor, having first and second output terminals and a gate, disposed in the major surface of a high-resistivity semiconductor epitaxial layer (20) of a first conductivity type, is characterized by:
-
first (11) and second (12) spaced-apart regions of a second conductivity type in the epitaxial layer and adjacent to a major surface thereof; a third region (13) of the first conductivity within the first region and adjacent to the major surface; a fourth region (14) of the second conductivity type in contact with the second region, disposed in the epitaxial layer and adjacent to the major surface; a rectifying contact being a metal conductor (22R) forming a Schottky barrier rectifying contact with the second region; a conductive layer (17) overlaying and insulated from selected portions of the epitaxial layer and the first and fourth regions; wherein the first and third regions are connected together to form the first output terminal, the rectifying contact forms the second output terminal, and the conductive layer forms the gate.
-
Specification