Integrated Capacitor Arrangement for Ultrahigh Capacitance Values

Abstract

The present invention relates to an electronic device (300) comprising at least one trench capacitor (302) that can also take the form of an inverse structure, a pillar capacitor. An alternating layer sequence (308) of at least two dielectric layers (312, 316) and at least two electrically conductive layers (314, 318) is provided in the trench capacitor or on the pillar capacitor, such that the at least two electrically conductive layers are electrically isolated from each other and from the substrate by respective ones of the at least two dielectric layers. A set of internal contact pads (332, 334, 340) is provided, and each internal contact pad is connected with a respective one of the electrically conductive layers or with the substrate. By providing an individual internal contact pad for each of the electrically conductive layers, a range of switching opportunities is opened up that allows tuning the specific capacitance of the capacitor to a desired value. The electronic device of the invention thus provides a flexible trench-capacitor manufacturing platform for a multitude of combinations of electrically conductive layers with each other, or, when multiple trenches are used, between electrically conductive layers of different trench capacitors. On-chip applications such as a charge-pump circuit or a DC-to-DC voltage converter are claimed that benefit from the ultra-high capacitance density and the high breakdown voltage that can be achieved with the electronic device of the invention.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.