Patents by Inventor Andy Strachan

Andy Strachan has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 6919588
    Abstract: When a high-voltage, such as from an ESD pulse, is placed across a silicon controlled rectifier, which includes an NPN transistor and a PNP transistor that is connected to the NPN transistor, the likelihood of punch through occurring between two regions of the rectifier is substantially reduced by forming the emitter of one transistor adjacent to the tails of the sinker down region of the other transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2003
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2005
    Assignee: National Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Vladislav Vashchenko, Andy Strachan, Peter J. Hopper, Philipp Lindorfer
  • Patent number: 6864582
    Abstract: In a semiconductor structure, interconnects between regions of a single device or different devices are achieved by forming contacts or plugs in thick oxide holes that span across the regions to be interconnected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2005
    Assignee: National Semiconductor Corp.
    Inventors: Vladislav Vashchenko, Peter J. Hopper, Philipp Lindorfer, Andy Strachan, Peter Johnson
  • Patent number: 6844585
    Abstract: A MOS transistor and subsurface collectors can be formed by using a hard mask and precisely varying the implant angle, rotation, dose, and energy. In this case, a particular atomic species can be placed volumetrically in a required location under the hard mask. The dopant can be implanted to form sub-silicon volumes of arbitrary shapes, such as pipes, volumes, hemispheres, and interconnects.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2005
    Assignee: National Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Peter J. Hopper, Vladislav Vashchenko, Philipp Lindorfer, Andy Strachan
  • Patent number: 6815797
    Abstract: A silicide bridged anti-fuse and a method of forming the anti-fuse are disclosed. The silicide bridged anti-fuse can be formed with a tungsten plug metalization process that does not require any additional process steps. As a result, anti-fuses can be added to an electrical circuit as trim elements for no additional cost.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2004
    Assignee: National Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Charles A. Dark, William M. Coppock, Jeffery L. Nilles, Andy Strachan
  • Patent number: 6806529
    Abstract: In an electrically programmable non-volatile memory cell, the first terminal of a high density capacitive structure is electrically connected to a conductive structure to form a floating gate/first electrode, while the second terminal of the capacitive structure is used as a control gate, providing a cell with a high overall capacitive coupling ratio, a relatively small area, and a high voltage tolerance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2003
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2004
    Assignee: National Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Peter J. Hopper, Yuri Mirgorodski, Andy Strachan
  • Patent number: 6727547
    Abstract: In a LDMOS transistor or matrix of transistors, hot carrier degradation effects are reduced by providing a ring drain and providing the ring drain with an overvoltage bias relative to the internal drain(s) of the LDMOS transistors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 27, 2004
    Assignee: National Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Douglas Brisbin, Andy Strachan
  • Patent number: 6639784
    Abstract: A capacitor structure is formed in a wedge-shaped trench by forming alternating layers of insulating material and conductive material in the trench such that each layer of conductive material formed in the trench is electrically isolated from adjacent layers of conductive material formed in the trench. A first electrical contact is formed to electrically link in parallel a first set of alternating layers of conductive material. A second electrical contact is formed to electrically link in parallel a second set of alternating layers of conductive material. The two electrically isolated sets of inter-linked layers of conductive material define the interdigitated capacitor structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 28, 2003
    Assignee: National Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Peter Hopper, Philipp Lindorfer, Kyuwoon Hwang, Andy Strachan, Vladislav Vashchenko
  • Patent number: 6586317
    Abstract: A zener diode is formed in a bipolar or BiCMOS fabrication process by modifying the existing masks that are used in the bipolar or BiCMOS fabrication process, thereby eliminating the need for a separate doping step. In addition, the reverse breakdown voltage of the zener diode is set to a desired value within a range of values by modifying the area of a new opening in one of existing masks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2001
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2003
    Assignee: National Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Vladislav Vashchenko, Andy Strachan, Peter Hopper
  • Patent number: 6566710
    Abstract: The safe operating area of a high-voltage MOSFET, such as a lateral double-diffused MOS (LDMOS) transistor, is increased by using transistor cells with an X-shaped body contact region and four smaller source regions that adjoin the body contact region. The X-shaped body contact region lowers the parasitic base resistance of the transistor, thereby increasing the safe operating area of the transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2003
    Assignee: National Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Andy Strachan, Douglas Brisbin
  • Patent number: 6559507
    Abstract: In a n+ snapback device, saturation current is limited by using one or more NLDD current blocking regions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2003
    Assignee: National Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Vladislav Vashchenko, Andy Strachan