Patents by Inventor Holger Ruething

Holger Ruething 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).

  • Publication number: 20090283799
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a semiconductor device comprises a body of a first conductivity type having a source region and a channel, the body being in contact with a top contact layer. The device also comprises a gate arranged adjacent the channel and a drift zone of a second conductivity type arranged between the body and a bottom contact layer. An integrated diode is formed partially by a first zone of the first conductivity type within the body and being in contact with the top contact layer and a second zone of the second conductivity type being in contact with the bottom contact layer. A reduced charge carrier concentration region is formed in the drift zone having a continuously increasing charge carrier lifetime in the vertical direction so that the charge carrier lifetime is lowest near the body and highest near the bottom contact layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 13, 2008
    Publication date: November 19, 2009
    Applicant: INFINEON TECHNOLOGIES AG
    Inventors: Holger Ruething, Hans-Joachim Schulze, Frank Hille, Frank Pfirsch
  • Patent number: 7557386
    Abstract: A reverse conducting insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) includes a semiconductor substrate having a front side and a back side and a first conductivity region between the front and back sides. The first conductivity region includes a reduced lifetime zone, a first lifetime zone between the reduced lifetime zone and the front side, and an intermediate lifetime zone between the reduced lifetime zone and the back side. Charge carriers in the first lifetime zone have a first carrier lifetime, charge carriers in the reduced lifetime zone have a reduced carrier lifetime shorter than the first carrier lifetime, and charge carriers in the intermediate lifetime zone have an intermediate carrier lifetime shorter than the first carrier lifetime and longer than the reduced carrier lifetime.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2009
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies Austria AG
    Inventors: Holger Ruething, Hans-Joachim Schulze, Franz-Josef Niedernostheide, Frank Hille
  • Publication number: 20090085103
    Abstract: A semiconductor device and production method is disclosed. In one embodiment, the semiconductor device includes a first electrode and a second electrode, located on surfaces of a semiconductor body, and an insulated gate electrode. The semiconductor body has a contact groove for the first electrode in an intermediate oxide layer. Highly doped zones of a first conduction type are located in edge regions of the source connection zone. Below the highly doped zones of the first conduction type, there are highly doped zones of a body zone with a complementary conduction type. In a central region of the source connection zone, the body zone has a net charge carrier concentration with a complementary conduction type which is lower than the charge carrier concentration in the edge regions of the source connection zone.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 28, 2007
    Publication date: April 2, 2009
    Applicant: Infineon Technologies Austria AG
    Inventors: Frank Hille, Carsten Schaeffer, Frank Pfirsch, Holger Ruething
  • Patent number: 7470952
    Abstract: A power IGBT includes a semiconductor body having an emitter zone of a first conduction type and a drift zone of a second conduction type proximate to the emitter zone. The IGBT further includes a cell array, each transistor cell of the array having a source zone, a body zone disposed between the source zone and the drift zone, the body zone and source zone short-circuited, and a gate electrode configured to be insulated with respect to the source zone and the body zone. The cell array has a first cell array section with a first cell density and a second cell array section with a second cell density that is lower than the first cell density. The emitter zone has a lower emitter efficiency in a region corresponding to the second cell array section than in a region corresponding to the first cell array section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2008
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Holger Ruething, Hans-Joachim Schulze, Manfred Pfaffenlehner
  • Publication number: 20080135871
    Abstract: A semiconductor component is disclosed. One embodiment provides a semiconductor body having a cell region with at least one zone of a first conduction type and at least one zone of a second conduction type in a rear side. A drift zone of the first conduction type in the cell region is provided. The drift zone contains at least one region through which charge carriers flow in an operating mode of the semiconductor component in one polarity and charge carriers do not flow in an operating mode of the semiconductor component in an opposite polarity.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 25, 2007
    Publication date: June 12, 2008
    Applicant: INFINEON TECHNOLOGIES AUSTRIA AG
    Inventors: Holger Ruething, Frank Pfirsch, Armin Willmeroth, Frank Hille, Hans-Joachim Schulze
  • Publication number: 20070231973
    Abstract: A reverse conducting insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) includes a semiconductor substrate having a front side and a back side and a first conductivity region between the front and back sides. The first conductivity region includes a reduced lifetime zone, a first lifetime zone between the reduced lifetime zone and the front side, and an intermediate lifetime zone between the reduced lifetime zone and the back side. Charge carriers in the first lifetime zone have a first carrier lifetime, charge carriers in the reduced lifetime zone have a reduced carrier lifetime shorter than the first carrier lifetime, and charge carriers in the intermediate lifetime zone have an intermediate carrier lifetime shorter than the first carrier lifetime and longer than the reduced carrier lifetime.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 30, 2006
    Publication date: October 4, 2007
    Applicant: Infineon Technologies Austria AG
    Inventors: Holger Ruething, Hans-Joachim Schulze, Franz-Josef Niedernostheide, Frank Hille
  • Patent number: 7233031
    Abstract: A vertical power semiconductor component, e.g. a diode or an IGBT, in which there are formed, on the rear side of a substrate, a rear side emitter or a cathode emitter and, over that, a rear side metal layer that at least partly covers the latter, is defined by the fact that, in the edge region of the component, provision is made of injection attenuation means for reducing the charge carrier injection from the rear side emitter or the cathode emitter into said edge section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2007
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Anton Mauder, Holger RĂ¼thing, Gerhard Miller, Hans Joachim Schulze, Josef Georg Bauer, Elmar Falck
  • Publication number: 20070120181
    Abstract: A power IGBT includes a semiconductor body having an emitter zone of a first conduction type and a drift zone of a second conduction type proximate to the emitter zone. The IGBT further includes a cell array, each transistor cell of the array having a source zone, a body zone disposed between the source zone and the drift zone, the body zone and source zone short-circuited, and a gate electrode configured to be insulated with respect to the source zone and the body zone. The cell array has a first cell array section with a first cell density and a second cell array section with a second cell density that is lower than the first cell density. The emitter zone has a lower emitter efficiency in a region corresponding to the second cell array section than in a region corresponding to the first cell array section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 9, 2006
    Publication date: May 31, 2007
    Applicant: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Holger Ruething, Hans-Joachim Schulze, Manfred Pfaffenlehner