Sense FET having a selectable sense current ratio and method of manufacturing the same

• US 6,433,386 B1
• Filed: 09/25/1998
• Issued: 08/13/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Semiconductor Components Industries LLC (ON Semiconductor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Inventors: Yun, Chong-man, Lee, Ki-hyun, Jun, Kwang-yeon
• Primary Examiner(s): CRANE, SARA W
• Application Number:
  US09/161,116
• Time in Patent Office: 1,418 Days
• Field of Search: 257/341, 257/529, 257/342, 257/343, 257/401, 257/500
• US Class Current: 257/341
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 23/5256 comprising fuses, i.e. connections having their state changed from conductive to non-conductive
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/41741 for vertical or pseudo-vertical devices
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00 Indexing scheme for arrangements or methods for connecting or disconnecting semiconductor or solid-state bodies as covered by H01L24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/0002 Not covered by any one of groups H01L24/00, H01L24/00 and H01L2224/00

Abstract

A sense FET is provided that is capable of achieving one of many available sense current ratios after manufacture, and a method of manufacturing the same. The sense FET includes a main cell array of MOSFET cells connected in parallel, and a main pad connected to the sources of the main cells. A plurality of unit sense cells are arranged in arrays, and also optionally in groups corresponding to portions of the arrays. A plurality of sense pads are electrically insulated from each other. Each sense pad is connected to the sources of the unit sense cells of either a complete sense cell array, or of a group corresponding to a portion of an array. Every sense pad is connected either to the sense resistor or to the main pad. When connected to a sense resistor, the corresponding unit cells are used as sense cells. For every different combination of sense pads that are connected to the sense resistor, a different number of unit cells are used as sense cells, and therefore a different sense current ratio is effectuated for the device. Connection to the sense resistor is by a reconfigurable wire bonding process, or by cutting electrically metal thin film fuses that initially connect the sense pads. The fuses can also initially join the sense pads to the main pad. This way the unit cells of unused sense pads can act instead as main cells.

Claims

1. A sense FET comprising:

a main cell array having a plurality of MOSFET cells connected in parallel;

a main pad electrically connected to sources of the MOSFET cells of the main cell array;

a plurality of sense cell arrays composed of a plurality of unit sense cells having drains and gates connected to drains and gates respectively of the MOSFET cells of the main cell array, wherein the sense cell arrays are composed of different numbers of unit sense cells; and

a plurality of sense pads corresponding to each of the plurality of sense cell arrays, each sense pad being electrically connected to sources of the unit sense cells of the corresponding sense cell array.

2. The sense FET of claim 1, wherein each of the sense cell arrays is composed of a predefined number of unit sense cells.

3. The sense FET of claim 1, wherein the structure of the unit sense cells is identical to that of the MOSFET cells of the main cell array.

4. The sense FET of claim 1, wherein the sense pads are electrically insulated from each other and from the main pad.

5. A sense FET comprising:

a main cell array having a plurality of MOSFET cells connected in parallel;

a main pad electrically connected to sources of the MOSFET cells of the main cell array;

a sense cell array composed of a plurality of unit sense cells arranged in groups, each unit sense cell having a gate and drain connected to gates and drains respectively of the MOSFET cells of the main cell array;

a plurality of sense pads each of which has at least one center sense pad to which a wire is to be connected and at least one auxiliary sense pad to which the wire is not connected, corresponding to each of the plurality of the groups, each source pad electrically connected to sources of the unit sense cells of the corresponding group; and

at least one metal thin film fuse capable of being electrically cut for connecting the center sense pad to the auxiliary sense pad, respectively.

6. The sense FET of claim 5, wherein the unit sense cell groups are composed of different numbers of unit sense cells.

7. The sense FET of claim 5, wherein each of the unit sense cell groups is composed of a predefined number of unit sense cells.

8. The sense FET of claim 5, wherein the structure of the unit sense cells is identical to that of the MOSFET cells of the main cell array.

9. The sense FET of claim 5, wherein the metal thin film fuse is formed to be of a size that can be cut with an overcurrent.

10. The sense FET of claim 5, wherein the metal thin film fuse has a width of 1˜

5 μ

m and a length of 10˜

20 μ

m.

11. The sense FET of claim 8, wherein the number of unit sense cells of the unit sense cell group connected to the center sense pad is higher than the number of unit sense cells arranged in other sense pads.

12. A sense FET comprising:

a main cell array having a plurality of MOSFET cells connected in parallel;

a main pad electrically connected to sources of the MOSFET cells of the main cell array;

a plurality of sense cell arrays composed of a plurality of unit sense cells having gates and drains connected to gates and drains respectively of the MOSFET cells of the main cell array;

a plurality of sense pads corresponding to each of the plurality of sense cell arrays, each sense pad being electrically connected to sources of the unit sense cells of the corresponding sense cell array; and

a plurality of metal thin film fuses capable of being electrically cut for connecting the sense pads to each other and to the main pad.

13. The sense FET of claim 12, wherein the sense cell arrays are composed of different numbers of unit sense cells.

14. The sense FET of claim 12, wherein each of the sense cell arrays is composed of a predefined number of unit sense cells.

15. The sense FET of claim 12, wherein the structure of the unit sense cells is identical to that of the MOSFET cells of the main cell array.

16. The sense FET of claim 12, wherein the metal thin film fuse is forced to be of a size that can be cut with an overcurrent.

17. The sense FET of claim 12, wherein the metal thin film fuse has a width of 1˜

5 μ

m and a length of 10˜

20 μ

m.

18. A method of forming a sense FET comprising the steps of:

forming a main cell array having a plurality of MOSFET cells connected in parallel and a plurality of unit sense cells, the unit sense cells arranged in a plurality of groups and having drains and gates connected to drains and gates respectively of the MOSFET cells of the main cell array;

forming a main pad electrically connected to sources of the MOSFET cells of the main cell array and a plurality of sense pads, each sense pad being electrically connected to sources of the unit sense cells of a single group; and

forming at least one fuse connecting one of the sense pads to one of the main pad and another one of the sense pads.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of wire bonding at least one of the sense pads to a terminal of a sense FET package.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of cutting at least one of the fuses with an overcurrent.

21. The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of forming at least one fuse connecting one of the sense pads to the main pad.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of cutting at least one of the fuses with an overcurrent.

23. A method of forming a sense FET comprising:

forming a main cell array having a plurality of MOSFET cells connected in parallel and a plurality of unit sense cells, the unit sense cells arranged in a plurality of groups and having drains and gates connected to drains and gates respectively of the MOSFET cells of the main cell array;

forming a main pad electrically connected to sources of the MOSFET cells of the main cell array and a plurality of sense pads, each sense pad being electrically connected to sources of the unit sense cells of a single group;

forming at least one fuse connecting one of the sense pads to one of the main pad and another one of the sense pads; and

wire bonding at least one of the sense pads to a terminal of a sense FET package.

24. The method of claim 23 further comprising the step of cutting one of the fuses with an overcurrent.