Abstract: Severable metal contacts (42) are provided for use within a circuit in a semiconductor device whereby an open circuit may be formed by the application of a pre-selected voltage or current. Preferred embodiments and associated methods are described in which a semiconductor device fuse (30) includes first and second conductors (36, 38) having first and second metallic contacts (40, 42) operably coupled to a conductive layer (34) for forming an electrical path. At least one of the metallic contacts (42) is configured to operate as a metallic fuse element adapted to form an open circuit (44) in response to reaching a pre-selected voltage threshold or current. Preferred embodiments of the invention are described in which it is used for programmable read only memory (PROM) elements.