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US 6,320,231 B1Granted
Semiconductor device for protecting a semiconductor chip from damage due to electrostatic discharge
AssigneeKabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
InventorsTamio Ikehashi, Kenichi Imamiya
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Abstract
In a semiconductor device having a diffusion-layer structure wherein high-concentration impurities are diffused into a low-impurity-concentration diffusion layer, two or more arrays of high-concentration diffusion layers are formed in each of diffusion layers constituting a collector region, an emitter region and a base region. Contacts are connected to their respective diffusion layers. A breakdown occurs on the diffusion layers, and heat generated therefrom is transmitted to the contacts.
Claims9
A semiconductor device comprising:
- a first diffusion layer of a first conductivity type formed in a surface area of a first semiconductor layer;
- a plurality of second diffusion layers of the first conductivity type formed in the first diffusion layer, the second diffusion layers having impurity concentration which is higher than that of the first diffusion layer;
- and
- a plurality of contacts connected to the second diffusion layers, respectively, the plurality of contacts being constituted of at least two arrays of contacts formed in a widthwise direction of the first diffusion layer,
- wherein a distance between each of contacts located on both sides of the first diffusion layer and each of the sides of the first diffusion layer is not more than twice as long as a distance between adjacent contacts.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.