Patents by Inventor Henry Litzmann Edwards

Henry Litzmann Edwards 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: 9583612
    Abstract: An integrated circuit which includes a field-plated FET is formed by forming a first opening in a layer of oxide mask, exposing an area for a drift region. Dopants are implanted into the substrate under the first opening. Subsequently, dielectric sidewalls are formed along a lateral boundary of the first opening. A field relief oxide is formed by thermal oxidation in the area of the first opening exposed by the dielectric sidewalls. The implanted dopants are diffused into the substrate to form the drift region, extending laterally past the layer of field relief oxide. The dielectric sidewalls and layer of oxide mask are removed after the layer of field relief oxide is formed. A gate is formed over a body of the field-plated FET and over the adjacent drift region. A field plate is formed immediately over the field relief oxide adjacent to the gate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Henry Litzmann Edwards, Binghua Hu, James Robert Todd
  • Publication number: 20170033096
    Abstract: An integrated circuit includes an NMOS SCR in which a p-type body well of the NMOS transistor provides a base layer for a vertical NPN layer stack. The base layer is formed by implanting p-type dopants using an implant mask which has a cutout mask element over the base area, so as to block the p-type dopants from the base area. The base layer is implanted concurrently with p-type body wells under NMOS transistors in logic components in the integrated circuit. Subsequent anneals cause the p-type dopants to diffuse into the base area, forming a base with a lower doping density that adjacent regions of the body well of the NMOS transistor in the NMOS SCR. The NMOS SCR may have a symmetric transistor, a drain extended transistor, or may be a bidirectional NMOS SCR with a symmetric transistor integrated with a drain extended transistor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 13, 2016
    Publication date: February 2, 2017
    Inventors: Henry Litzmann EDWARDS, Akram A. SALMAN
  • Patent number: 9543430
    Abstract: A power transistor includes multiple substantially parallel transistor fingers, where each finger includes a conductive source stripe and a conductive drain stripe. The power transistor also includes multiple substantially parallel conductive connection lines, where each conductive connection line connects at least one source stripe to a common source connection or at least one drain stripe to a common drain connection. The conductive connection lines are disposed substantially perpendicular to the transistor fingers. At least one of the source or drain stripes is segmented into multiple portions, where adjacent portions are separated by a cut location having a higher electrical resistance than remaining portions of the at least one segmented source or drain stripe.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2017
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventor: Henry Litzmann Edwards
  • Patent number: 9543299
    Abstract: RESURF-based dual-gate p-n bimodal conduction laterally diffused metal oxide semiconductors (LDMOS). In an illustrative embodiment, a p-type source is electrically coupled to an n-type drain. A p-type drain is electrically coupled to an n-type source. An n-type layer serves as an n-type conduction channel between the n-type drain and the n-type source. A p-type top layer is disposed at the surface of the substrate of said semiconductor device and is disposed above and adjacent to the n-type layer. The p-type top layer serves as a p-type conduction channel between the p-type source and the p-type drain. An n-gate controls current flow in the n-type conduction channel, and a p-gate controls current flow in the p-type conduction channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2017
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Yongxi Zhang, Sameer P. Pendharkar, Henry Litzmann Edwards
  • Publication number: 20160372516
    Abstract: In described examples, an integrated circuit containing CMOS transistors and an embedded thermoelectric device may be formed by forming active areas which provide transistor active areas for an NMOS transistor and a PMOS transistor of the CMOS transistors and provide n-type thermoelectric elements and p-type thermoelectric elements of the embedded thermoelectric device. Stretch contacts with lateral aspect ratios greater than 4:1 are formed over the n-type thermoelectric elements and p-type thermoelectric elements to provide electrical and thermal connections through metal interconnects to a thermal node of the embedded thermoelectric device. The stretch contacts are formed by forming contact trenches in a dielectric layer, filling the contact trenches with contact metal and subsequently removing the contact metal from over the dielectric layer. The stretch contacts are formed concurrently with contacts to the NMOS and PMOS transistors.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 2, 2016
    Publication date: December 22, 2016
    Inventors: Jeffrey R. Debord, Henry Litzmann Edwards, Kenneth J. Maggio
  • Patent number: 9508707
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a quantum well-modulated bipolar junction transistor (QW-modulated BJT) having a base with an area for a modulatable quantum well in the base. The QW-modulated BJT includes a quantum well (QW) control node which is capable of modulating a quantity and level of energy levels of the quantum well. A recombination site abuts the area for the quantum well with a contact area of at least 25 square nanometers. The semiconductor device may be operated by providing a reference node such as ground to the emitter and a power source to the collector. A bias voltage is provided to the gate to form the quantum well and a signal voltage is provided to the gate, so that the collector current includes a component which varies with the signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2016
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventor: Henry Litzmann Edwards
  • Patent number: 9496313
    Abstract: An integrated circuit containing CMOS transistors and an embedded thermoelectric device is formed by forming isolation trenches in a substrate, concurrently between the CMOS transistors and between thermoelectric elements of the embedded thermoelectric device. Dielectric material is formed in the isolation trenches to provide field oxide which laterally isolates the CMOS transistors and the thermoelectric elements. Germanium is implanted into the substrate in areas for the thermoelectric elements, and the substrate is subsequently annealed, to provide a germanium density of at least 0.10 atomic percent in the thermoelectric elements between the isolation trenches. The germanium may be implanted before the isolation trenches are formed, after the isolation trenches are formed and before the dielectric material is formed in the isolation trenches, and/or after the dielectric material is formed in the isolation trenches.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2016
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Henry Litzmann Edwards, Toan Tran, Jeffrey R. Debord, Ashesh Parikh, Bradley David Sucher
  • Patent number: 9496252
    Abstract: An integrated circuit includes an NMOS SCR in which a p-type body well of the NMOS transistor provides a base layer for a vertical NPN layer stack. The base layer is formed by implanting p-type dopants using an implant mask which has a cutout mask element over the base area, so as to block the p-type dopants from the base area. The base layer is implanted concurrently with p-type body wells under NMOS transistors in logic components in the integrated circuit. Subsequent anneals cause the p-type dopants to diffuse into the base area, forming a base with a lower doping density that adjacent regions of the body well of the NMOS transistor in the NMOS SCR. The NMOS SCR may have a symmetric transistor, a drain extended transistor, or may be a bidirectional NMOS SCR with a symmetric transistor integrated with a drain extended transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2016
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Henry Litzmann Edwards, Akram A. Salman
  • Patent number: 9484435
    Abstract: One embodiment of the invention relates to a semiconductor device formed over a semiconductor body. In this device, source and drain regions are formed in the body about lateral edges of a gate electrode and are separated from one another by a gate length. A channel region, which is configured to allow charged carriers to selectively flow between the source and drain regions during operation of the device, has differing widths under the gate electrode. These widths are generally perpendicular to the gate length. Other devices, methods, and systems are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2016
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Henry Litzmann Edwards, Tathagata Chatterjee, Mohamed Kamel Mahmoud, Gabriel J. Gomez
  • Publication number: 20160315141
    Abstract: A semiconductor device has an n-type buried layer formed by implanting antimony and/or arsenic into the p-type first epitaxial layer at a high dose and low energy, and implanting phosphorus at a low dose and high energy. A thermal drive process diffuses and activates both the heavy dopants and the phosphorus. The antimony and arsenic do not diffuse significantly, maintaining a narrow profile for a main layer of the buried layer. The phosphorus diffuses to provide a lightly-doped layer several microns thick below the main layer. An epitaxial p-type layer is grown over the buried layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 7, 2016
    Publication date: October 27, 2016
    Inventors: Sameer P. Pendharkar, Binghua Hu, Henry Litzmann Edwards
  • Patent number: 9461046
    Abstract: A laterally diffused MOS (LDMOS) device includes a substrate having a p-epi layer thereon. A p-body region is in the p-epi layer. An ndrift (NDRIFT) region is within the p-body region providing a drain extension region, and a gate dielectric layer is formed over a channel region in the p-body region adjacent to and on respective sides of a junction with the NDRIFT region, and a patterned gate electrode on the gate dielectric. A DWELL region is within the p-body region, sidewall spacers are on sidewalls of the gate electrode, a source region is within the DWELL region, and a drain region is within the NDRIFT region. The p-body region includes a portion being at least one 0.5 ?m wide that has a net p-type doping level above a doping level of the p-epi layer and a net p-type doping profile gradient of at least 5/?m.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2016
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Henry Litzmann Edwards, James Robert Todd
  • Patent number: 9461032
    Abstract: A bipolar ESD protection device includes a substrate having a p-type epi layer thereon including an epi region over an n-buried layer (NBL). An n-type isolation tank (iso tank) includes a deep n+ region and NBL for containing an isolated epi region of the epi region. An NPN transistor and an avalanche diode are formed in the isolated epi region. The NPN transistor includes an emitter within a base having a base contact and the collector is a top portion of NBL. The avalanche diode includes a p-type anode region including an anode contact and an n-type cathode region having a cathode contact. The anode region and base are resistively coupled through the epi region. A ground connection couples the emitter to the anode contact and a strike node connection couples the cathode contact to an n+ isolation contact.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2016
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventor: Henry Litzmann Edwards
  • Publication number: 20160260711
    Abstract: A transistor includes an emitter of a first conductivity type, base of a second conductivity type, collector of the first conductivity type, and cathode of a lateral suppression diode. The emitter is disposed at a top surface of the transistor and configured to receive electrical current from an external source. The base is configured to conduct the electrical current from the collector to the emitter. The base is disposed at the top surface of the transistor and laterally between the emitter and the collector. The collector is configured to attract and collect minority carriers from the base. The cathode of the first conductivity type is surrounded by the base and disposed between the emitter and the collector, and the cathode is configured to suppress a lateral flow of the minority carriers from the base to the collector.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 17, 2016
    Publication date: September 8, 2016
    Inventor: Henry Litzmann Edwards
  • Patent number: 9437652
    Abstract: An integrated circuit containing CMOS transistors and an embedded thermoelectric device may be formed by forming active areas which provide transistor active areas for an NMOS transistor and a PMOS transistor of the CMOS transistors and provide n-type thermoelectric elements and p-type thermoelectric elements of the embedded thermoelectric device. Stretch contacts with lateral aspect ratios greater than 4:1 are formed over the n-type thermoelectric elements and p-type thermoelectric elements to provide electrical and thermal connections through metal interconnects to a thermal node of the embedded thermoelectric device. The stretch contacts are formed by forming contact trenches in a dielectric layer, filling the contact trenches with contact metal and subsequently removing the contact metal from over the dielectric layer. The stretch contacts are formed concurrently with contacts to the NMOS and PMOS transistors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2016
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Jeffrey R. Debord, Henry Litzmann Edwards, Kenneth J. Maggio
  • Patent number: 9437799
    Abstract: An integrated circuit containing CMOS transistors and an embedded thermoelectric device may be formed by forming field oxide in isolation trenches to isolate the CMOS transistors and thermoelectric elements of the embedded thermoelectric device. N-type dopants are implanted into the substrate to provide at least 1×1018 cm?3 n-type dopants in n-type thermoelectric elements and the substrate under the field oxide between the n-type thermoelectric elements. P-type dopants are implanted into the substrate to provide at least 1×1018 cm?3 p-type dopants in p-type thermoelectric elements and the substrate under the field oxide between the p-type thermoelectric elements. The n-type dopants and p-type dopants may be implanted before the field oxide are formed, after the isolation trenches for the field oxide are formed and before dielectric material is formed in the isolation trenches, and/or after the field oxide is formed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2016
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Henry Litzmann Edwards, Kenneth James Maggio, Toan Tran, Jihong Chen, Jeffrey R. Debord
  • Patent number: 9431286
    Abstract: A semiconductor device with a buried layer has a deep trench structure abutting the buried layer and a self-aligned sinker along sidewalls of the deep trench structure. The semiconductor device may be formed by forming a portion of a deep trench down to the buried layer, and implanting dopants into a substrate of the semiconductor device along sidewalls of the deep trench, and subsequently forming a remainder of the deep trench extending below the buried layer. Alternatively, the semiconductor device may be formed by forming the deep trench to extend below the buried layer, and subsequently implanting dopants into the substrate of the semiconductor device along sidewalls of the deep trench.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2016
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Sameer P Pendharkar, Binghua Hu, Abbas Ali, Henry Litzmann Edwards, John P. Erdeljac, Britton Robbins, Jarvis Benjamin Jacobs
  • Patent number: 9385187
    Abstract: A semiconductor device has an n-type buried layer formed by implanting antimony and/or arsenic into the p-type first epitaxial layer at a high dose and low energy, and implanting phosphorus at a low dose and high energy. A thermal drive process diffuses and activates both the heavy dopants and the phosphorus. The antimony and arsenic do not diffuse significantly, maintaining a narrow profile for a main layer of the buried layer. The phosphorus diffuses to provide a lightly-doped layer several microns thick below the main layer. An epitaxial p-type layer is grown over the buried layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2016
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Sameer P Pendharkar, Binghua Hu, Henry Litzmann Edwards
  • Patent number: 9373615
    Abstract: A transistor includes an emitter of a first conductivity type, base of a second conductivity type, collector of the first conductivity type, and cathode of a lateral suppression diode. The emitter is disposed at a top surface of the transistor and configured to receive electrical current from an external source. The base is configured to conduct the electrical current from the collector to the emitter. The base is disposed at the top surface of the transistor and laterally between the emitter and the collector. The collector is configured to attract and collect minority carriers from the base. The cathode of the first conductivity type is surrounded by the base and disposed between the emitter and the collector, and the cathode is configured to suppress a lateral flow of the minority carriers from the base to the collector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2016
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventor: Henry Litzmann Edwards
  • Publication number: 20160163691
    Abstract: An integrated circuit includes an NMOS SCR in which a p-type body well of the NMOS transistor provides a base layer for a vertical NPN layer stack. The base layer is formed by implanting p-type dopants using an implant mask which has a cutout mask element over the base area, so as to block the p-type dopants from the base area. The base layer is implanted concurrently with p-type body wells under NMOS transistors in logic components in the integrated circuit. Subsequent anneals cause the p-type dopants to diffuse into the base area, forming a base with a lower doping density that adjacent regions of the body well of the NMOS transistor in the NMOS SCR. The NMOS SCR may have a symmetric transistor, a drain extended transistor, or may be a bidirectional NMOS SCR with a symmetric transistor integrated with a drain extended transistor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 12, 2016
    Publication date: June 9, 2016
    Inventors: Henry Litzmann EDWARDS, Akram A. SALMAN
  • Publication number: 20160155925
    Abstract: An integrated circuit containing CMOS transistors and an embedded thermoelectric device may be formed by forming field oxide in isolation trenches to isolate the CMOS transistors and thermoelectric elements of the embedded thermoelectric device. N-type dopants are implanted into the substrate to provide at least 1×1018 cm?3 n-type dopants in n-type thermoelectric elements and the substrate under the field oxide between the n-type thermoelectric elements. P-type dopants are implanted into the substrate to provide at least 1×1018 cm?3 p-type dopants in p-type thermoelectric elements and the substrate under the field oxide between the p-type thermoelectric elements. The n-type dopants and p-type dopants may be implanted before the field oxide are formed, after the isolation trenches for the field oxide are formed and before dielectric material is formed in the isolation trenches, and/or after the field oxide is formed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 2, 2015
    Publication date: June 2, 2016
    Inventors: Henry Litzmann Edwards, Kenneth James Maggio, Toan Tran, Jihong Chen, Jeffrey R. Debord