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US 7,982,285 B2Granted
Antifuse structure having an integrated heating element
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsByeongju Park, Subramanian S. Iyer, Chandrasekharan Kothandaraman
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Abstract
The present invention provides antifuse structures having an integrated heating element and methods of programming the same, the antifuse structures comprising first and second conductors and a dielectric layer formed between the conductors, where one or both of the conductors functions as both a conventional antifuse conductor and as a heating element for directly heating the antifuse dielectric layer during programming.
Claims20
A programmable circuit, comprising:
- a semiconductor substrate;
- an antifuse formed on said semiconductor substrate, said antifuse including a first conductor having a first planar surface, a planar dielectric layer contacting said first planar surface of said first conductor, and a second conductor having a second planar surface that contacts said planar dielectric layer;
- a first conductive element contacting a first portion of said second conductor and electrically isolated from said first conductor;
- a second conductive element contacting a second portion of said second conductor and not contacting said first conductive element and electrically isolated from said first conductor;
- and
- means for applying a voltage difference across said first conductive element and said second conductive element, wherein said voltage difference induces a current I to flow in said second conductor and causes Joule heating of said second conductor.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.