Abstract: A high-voltage lateral MOSFET transistor structure constituted by various interdigitated modular elements formed on a layer of monocrystaline silicon is described together with a process for its fabrication.To save area of silicon and to reduce the specific resistivity RDS on doping drain regions are formed by implanting doping material in the silicon through apertures in the field oxide obtained with a selective anisotropic etching by utilizing as a mask the strips of polycrystaline silicon which serve as gate electrodes and field electrodes.

Abstract: A row decoding circuit for an electronic memory cell device, particularly in low supply voltage applications, is described. The row decoding circuit is adapted to boost, through at least one boost capacitor, a read voltage to be applied to a memory column containing a memory cell to be read. The circuit is powered between a first supply voltage reference and a second ground potential reference, and comprises a hierarchic structure of cascade connected inverters and a circuit means of progressively raising the read voltage level dynamically. First means are provided for raising the read voltage level to a value equal to the supply voltage plus a threshold voltage, and second means are provided for raising the read voltage level to a value equal to the supply voltage plus twice said threshold voltage.

Abstract: The invention relates to a control circuit for semiconductor devices which is formed on a substrate (1) doped by a first dopant type, the integrated circuit comprising a first epitaxial layer (2) grown on the substrate (1) and doped by the first dopant type, and an isolation well (3) doped by a second dopant type, the control circuit comprising at least a first control transistor (M1) formed in a first well (8) doped by the second dopant type and formed in the insulation well (3). Thus, the control circuit comprises at least one N-channel MOS transistor accommodated within a well in direct contact with the isolation well to eliminate a buried layer that, in prior art arrangements, involved the presence of an undesired parasitic component.

Abstract: A control signal compensation method is particularly intended for an analog/digital processing system provided with a control loop, including in turn a controller and a monitoring circuit. The method includes storing corrections made by the controller, fast processing such as corrections before transmitting the corrections throughout the control loop, and generating a compensation signal for the latency effects of the controller, by the use of a negative feedback loop provided at the monitoring circuit level.

Abstract: A method is provided for operating a programmable logic array in an integrated circuit. Each stage of the circuit is enabled only during the time necessary for that stage to propagate an incoming signal. Enable signals are generated for the stages of the circuit, using a dummy circuit which replicates elements of the circuit in dimension, orientation and connectivity. These elements provide a delay path, such that an input signal applied coincidentally to the programmable logic array circuit and the dummy circuit produces outputs of the dummy circuit which define times for applying and removing the enable signals from stages of the programmable logic array circuit.

Abstract: A vertical structure, integrated bipolar transistor incorporating a current sensing resistor, comprises a collector region, a base region overlying the collector region, and an emitter region over the base region. The emitter region comprises a buried region a surface region, and a first vertical diffusion region connecting the buried layer to the surface region. A second vertical diffusion region connects the buried emitter layer periphery to a first surface contact, while the surface emitter region is contacted, along three peripheral sides thereof, by a second surface contact. The transistor current flows from the substrate, through the base to the buried emitter region. It is then conveyed into the vertical region, which represents a resistive path, and on reaching the surface region splits between two resistive paths included between the vertical region and the surface contacts.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a current amplifier including a first MOS transistor with a drain defining a first terminal for controlling the amplifier with a current and a source connected to a first supply line. It also includes a second MOS transistor with a drain forming a terminal of current output of the amplifier and a source connected to the first supply line, and at least one first bipolar transistor having a base connected to the first control terminal, an emitter connected to a gate of the first MOS transistor and is, via a first biasing resistor, connected to the first supply line and having a collector of the first bipolar transistor being connected to a second supply line.

Abstract: The invention relates to a dimensional control device for semiconductor wafer transport cassettes. Each cassette has a base from which extend vertical walls including horizontal grooves designed to receive wafers by lateral insertion. The device includes a seat provided with positioning guides of a cassette base; switches placed on the seat so that the actuation of all the switches by the positioned base indicate a suitable planarity of the base; a drawer mounted slidably on the seat so as to be engageable in the cassette in the insertion direction of the wafers, and having at least one template corresponding to a high position groove of the cassette; and a stop placed on the seat, at the side opposite to the drawer with respect to the cassette, to cause a tilting of the cassette when the drawer is moved towards the cassette and the template does not correspond to the cassette.

Abstract: A negative word line voltage regulation circuit integratable in an electrically erasable semiconductor memory device. The circuit regulates a negative word line voltage to be supplied to word lines of the memory device during an electrical erasure of the memory device. The circuit includes an operational amplifier with a first input coupled to a reference voltage, a second input coupled to the negative word line voltage, and an output controlling a voltage regulation branch connected between an external power supply and the negative word line voltage, to provide a regulation current for regulating the negative word line voltage. The output of the operational amplifier also controls a voltage sensing branch, connected between the external power supply and the negative word line voltage, to provide a sensing signal coupled to the second input of the operational amplifier.

Abstract: The analog processor can carry out processings independently of the operating temperature and process parameters, in a reliable manner and at high performance levels using fairly simple circuitry. To achieve this independence, the processor is basically implemented and integrated with MOS transistors, has both voltage inputs and outputs, and includes a biasing section which supplies voltage bias signals, of which at least one is substantially the sum of a voltage proportional to the threshold voltage of the MOS transistors and a reference voltage. This reference voltage can be extracted from a reference potential which is stable to temperature and process parameters, for example that produced by a bandgap type of generator. A major feature of the processor according to the invention is the linearity of its input-output characteristic relative to that reference voltage.

Abstract: A matrix of EEPROM memory cells having a double polysilicon level of MOS technology and being arranged into rows and columns is monolithically integrated on a substrate of semiconductor material. Each cell comprises, in series, a transistor of the floating gate type which includes two layers of polysilicon superposed on each other and separated by an intervening layer of a dielectric material, and a selection transistor having a gate which comprises a first layer of polysilicon. The gates of the selection transistors in one row of said matrix are connected electrically together by a selection line comprising a second layer of polysilicon overlying the first layer. The intermediate layer of dielectric material is also partly interposed between the first and second layers of polysilicon such that the two layers are in contact at at least one zone of said selection line. Preferably, the contact zone is formed over field oxide regions and is away from the edges of the selection line.

Abstract: The circuit includes a memory element connected to an enabling input receiving an enabling signal, and in turn including a first reset circuit receiving an internal reset signal, and a second reset circuit receiving an external timing control signal, to generate an operating step enabling signal having a first switching edge on receiving the enabling signal, a second switching edge on receiving the reset signal, and a third switching edge on receiving the external timing control signal. A control input receives a timing mode signal, and is connected to the first and second reset circuits to enable them selectively. By enabling the second reset circuit and supplying the external timing control signal, in successive cycles, with different delays in relation to the enabling signal, different readings of the memory are enabled to characterize the response and optimize the timing of the memory device.

Abstract: A semiconductor memory device comprising redundancy memory elements for functionally replacing defective memory elements, redundancy circuits for operating said functional substitution of the redundancy memory elements for the defective memory elements, and operation mode control circuits for controlling the memory device to operate according to a plurality of operation modes, said plurality of operation modes comprising a memory read mode and redundancy test modes for testing the redundancy circuits. The memory device comprises an internal shared bus of signal lines that when the memory device is operated in said read mode is used to transfer read data signals to output terminals of the memory device and when the memory device is operated in one of said redundancy test modes is used to transfer redundancy signals, depending on the redundancy test mode, to the output terminals of the memory device.

Abstract: In a memory device equipped with a redundancy circuit comprising at least one redundancy memory register storing a defective address of a defective memory element and an identifying code suitable for identifying a portion of a matrix of memory elements wherein the defective memory element is located, a circuit for transferring redundancy data of a redundancy circuit inside the memory device is provided. The circuit comprises a shared bus of signal lines provided in the memory device to interconnect a plurality of circuit blocks of the memory device and for transferring signals between the circuit blocks. The shared bus can be selectively to the various circuit blocks, and a bus assignment circuit associated to the redundancy circuit is provided for assigning, during a prescribed time interval of a read cycle of the memory device, the shared bus to the redundancy circuit whereby in the prescribed time interval the identifying code stored in the redundancy memory register can be transferred onto the shared bus.

Abstract: Spurious memory readings which may be caused by noise induced by transitions in the output buffers of a fast parallel memory device are prevented by permitting output latches to change state in function of newly extracted data signals by means of an enabling pulse having a preestablished duration and which is generated only after a change of memory address signals has occurred and the new configuration of memory address signals has lasted for a time which is not shorter than the time of propagation of signals through the memory chain. The enabling pulse is generated by employing a detector of transitions occurring in the input circuitry of the memory, a dummy memory chain, a one-shot pulse generator and a resetting pulse generator. The anti-noise network may be exploited also for implementing an auto-stand-by condition at the end of each read cycle, which reduces power consumption and increases speed by simplifying the sensing process.