System and method for increasing reliability of electrical fuse programming

A programmable e-fuse device for a semiconductor chip comprising:

• multiple fuse structures for encoding a bit of information, each having one end logically connected together to provide an e-fuse device output;
• and,
• multiple programming transistors, a programming transistor of said multiple programming transistors corresponding to a fuse structure and having a terminal operatively connected at another end of said corresponding fuse structure for controlling current flow therethrough according to a received fuse programming signal, each said multiple fuse structures and said corresponding multiple programming transistors being dimensioned to achieve a coding redundancy such that one fuse structure of said multiple fuse structures provides for a current flow of sufficient current density to ensure programming reliability of said e-fuse device,
• wherein each fuse structure is of substantially identical size and each corresponding programming transistor device is of a different size.

A method of programming an e-fuse device in a semiconductor chip comprising:

• logically connecting one end of multiple fuse structures for encoding a bit of information in parallel to provide an e-fuse device output, one of said multiple fuse structures having an optimal level of programmed current density;
• and,
• activating a programming transistor operatively connected to a corresponding fuse structure for controlling current flow therethrough according to a received fuse programming signal, each said multiple fuse structures and said corresponding multiple programming devices being dimensioned to achieve a coding redundancy such that one fuse structure of said multiple fuse structures provides for a current flow of sufficient current density to ensure programming reliability of said e-fuse device,
• wherein each said corresponding programming transistor device is of substantially identical size and, each fuse structure of said multiple fuse structures is of a different size.

A method of programming an e-fuse device in a semiconductor chip comprising:

• logically connecting one end of multiple fuse structures for encoding a bit of information in parallel to provide an e-fuse device output, one of said multiple fuse structures having an optimal level of programmed current density;
• and,
• activating a programming transistor operatively connected to a corresponding fuse structure for controlling current flow therethrough according to a received fuse programming signal, each said multiple fuse structures and said corresponding multiple programming devices being dimensioned to achieve a coding redundancy such that one fuse structure of said multiple fuse structures provides for a current flow of sufficient current density to ensure programming reliability of said e-fuse device,
• wherein each fuse structure is of substantially identical size and each programming transistor device is of a different size.

A device for encoding multiple information bits in a semiconductor chip comprising:

• a plurality of bit cell structures, each bit cell structure for receiving one programmed information bit, each bit cell structure comprising:
• multiple fuse structures, each said multiple fuse structures having one end logically connected together to provide a bit cell output;
• and,
• multiple programming transistors, each of which corresponding to each of said multiple fuse structures and operatively connected at another end of said corresponding fuse structure for controlling current flow therethrough according to a received programming signal, each said multiple fuse structures and said corresponding multiple programming devices being dimensioned to achieve a coding redundancy such that one fuse structure of said multiple fuse structures provides for a current flow of sufficient current density to ensure programming reliability of said e-fuse device,
• said coding redundancy being achieved by one of:
• programming each fuse link of said multiple fuse structures with different fuselink dimensions while said multiple programming transistors are of constant size, or programming said multiple transistors with different sizes while dimensions of said fuse links are kept constant,
• whereby programming reliability of said e-fuse device is enhanced.