Thyristor-based device adapted to inhibit parasitic current

A semiconductor device comprising:

• a substrate including first and second contiguously adjacent regions doped to opposite polarities;
• a thyristor including a body and a control port, the body including base and emitter regions in the substrate, the control port having a first surface portion facing the base region and a second surface portion facing the first doped substrate region and adapted for capacitively coupling to the base region for controlling current flow in the thyristor body;
• a doped circuit region adjacent to the control port, immediately adjacent to the first substrate region, wherein the doped circuit region and the second doped substrate region are doped to the same polarity;
• and
• wherein the first doped substrate region is susceptible to leakage current passing between the first and second doped portions in response to a voltage pulse being applied to the control port for controlling current flow in the thyristor, and wherein parasitic current leakage between the doped circuit region and the second doped substrate region, via the first doped substrate region, is inhibited when the voltage pulse is applied to the control port for controlling current flow in the thyristor body.

A thyristor-based semiconductor device having a substrate including first and second adjacent doped substrate regions having opposite doping, the device comprising:

• a thyristor device comprising:
• a first base region electrically coupled to a first emitter region, the first base region and first emitter region forming a first end portion of the thyristor device;
• a second base region electrically coupled to a second emitter region, the second emitter region being in the second doped substrate region, the second base region and the second emitter region forming a second end portion of the thyristor device, the first and second base regions being electrically coupled to one another;
• and
• a control port in a lined trench and adapted for capacitively coupling to the first base region for controlling current flow in the thyristor device in response to a voltage pulse being applied to the control port, the portion of the lined trench including the control port being contiguously adjacent to the first doped substrate region;
• a pass device coupled in series with the thyristor via the first emitter region and comprising:
• first and second source/drain regions in the first doped substrate region, the first source/drain region being electrically coupled to the first emitter region and adjacent to the portion of the lined trench including the control port;
• a gate electrode over a channel in the first doped substrate region between the first and second source/drain regions and adapted for capacitively coupling to the channel via a gate dielectric for forming a conductive channel between the first and second source/drain regions in response to a voltage being applied to the gate electrode;
• and
• wherein the first doped substrate region is susceptible to leakage current passing between the first and second doped regions in response to said voltage pulse being applied to the control port for controlling current flow in the thyristor, and wherein the configuration and arrangement of the control port in the lined trench relative to the first source/drain region and the first and second doped substrate regions is adapted to inhibit the leakage current in response to said voltage pulse being applied to the control port.