Trimmable semiconductor-based capacitor
AssigneeKYOCERA AVX Components Corporation
InventorCory Nelson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A capacitor assembly includes a primary capacitor and a secondary capacitor formed on a substrate. The primary capacitor and the secondary capacitor can be connected by a conduction line. The conduction line can be formed from a thin metal connection. The conduction line can be severed, i.e., trimmed, to finely tune a capacitance value of the capacitor assembly. The capacitor assembly can allow for tighter tolerance and wider variance of the capacitance value of the capacitor assembly. The capacitor assembly can be trimmed after installing the capacitor assembly in the circuit, thereby enabling fine tuning of the capacitance value of the capacitor assembly for applications requiring precision tunable capacitance.
Claims20
A capacitor assembly comprising:
- a substrate comprising a semiconductor material;
- a primary oxide layer formed on a surface of the substrate;
- a secondary oxide layer formed on a surface of the substrate;
- a primary conductive layer formed over at least a portion of the primary oxide layer;
- a secondary conductive layer formed over at least a portion of the secondary oxide layer;
- a first terminal connected with the primary conductive layer;
- and
- a conduction line formed over the substrate, wherein the conduction line is connected between the primary conductive layer and the secondary conductive layer;
- wherein the capacitor assembly comprises a capacitance value in a range from a minimum capacitance value to a maximum capacitance value,
- wherein the conduction line is configured to be severed between the first end and the second end at a trimmed portion, wherein the conduction line maintains connection with the primary conductive layer and the secondary conductive layer when the conduction line is severed at the trimmed portion.
A method of forming a trimmable capacitor assembly comprising:
- forming a primary oxide layer on a surface of a substrate comprising a semiconductor material;
- forming a secondary oxide layer on a surface of the substrate, wherein the secondary oxide layer is spaced from the primary oxide layer;
- depositing a primary conductive layer over at least a portion of the primary oxide layer;
- depositing a secondary conductive layer over at least a portion of the secondary oxide layer;
- depositing a first terminal on the first conductive layer;
- and
- depositing a conduction line over the substrate, wherein the conduction line connects between the primary conductive layer and the secondary conductive layer, wherein the conduction line is configured to maintain connection with each of the primary conductive layer and the secondary conductive layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.