A semiconductor device includes a first transistor cell of a plurality of transistor cells of a vertical field effect transistor arrangement, and a second transistor cell of the plurality of transistor cells. The first transistor cell and the second transistor cell are electrically connected in parallel. A gate of the first transistor cell and a gate of the second transistor cell are controllable by different gate control signals.

A semiconductor device includes a power element and a heat sensing element configured to detect a temperature of the power element. The power element includes lateral MOS transistors having drains and gate electrodes, two of the drains being shorter in length than the remaining drains and two of the gate electrodes being shorter in length than the remaining gate electrodes. The heat sensing element has a rectangular shape and is disposed between the two shorter drains and the two shorter gate electrodes to accurately detect the temperature of the power element.

A multilayer semiconductor device structure having different circuit functions on different semiconductor device layers is provided. The semiconductor structure comprises a first semiconductor device layer fabricated on a bulk substrate. The first semiconductor device layer comprises a first semiconductor device for performing a first circuit function. The first semiconductor device layer includes a patterned top surface of different materials. The semiconductor structure further comprises a second semiconductor device layer fabricated on a semiconductor-on-insulator (SOT) substrate. The second semiconductor device layer comprises a second semiconductor device for performing a second circuit function. The second circuit function is different from the first circuit function. A bonding surface coupled between the patterned top surface of the first semiconductor device layer and a bottom surface of the SOT substrate is included. The bottom surface of the SOT substrate is bonded to the patterned top surface of the first semiconductor device layer via the bonding surface.

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) devices and methods of manufacture are provided. The method includes forming a plurality of fin structures and a mesa structure from semiconductor material. The method further includes forming an epitaxial material with doped regions on the mesa structure and forming gate material over at least the plurality of fin structures. The method further includes planarizing at least the gate material such that the gate material and the epitaxial material are of a same height. The method further includes forming contacts in electrical connection with respective ones of the doped regions of the epitaxial material.

A first sense resistor is connected between a fourth terminal of a power source potential of a high-potential region and a first terminal of a ground potential. A second sense resistor is connected between a third terminal of a reference potential of the high-potential region and the first terminal. A comparator is disposed in a low-potential region and uses the ground potential as a reference potential for operation. The comparator compares a voltage between an intermediate potential point of the first sense resistor and an intermediate potential point of the second sense resistor with a predetermined reference voltage. The output of the comparator is input through a control circuit and a level shift circuit to a high-side drive circuit driving an upper-arm IGBT. The output of the comparator is input to a driver circuit driving a lower-arm IGBT.

A semiconductor arrangement includes a well region and a first region disposed within the well region. The first region includes a first conductivity type. The semiconductor arrangement includes a first gate disposed above the well region on a first side of the first region. The first gate includes a first top surface facing away from the well region. The first top surface has a first top surface area. The semiconductor arrangement includes a first gate contact disposed above the first gate. The first gate contact includes a first bottom surface facing towards the well region. The first bottom surface has a first bottom surface area. The first bottom surface area covers at least about two thirds of the first top surface area.

A design flow of an integrated circuit may include a skeleton input/output (I/O) generation stage during which information about ESD protection circuitry and rails but not functional circuitry of the I/O cells of the integrated circuit is generated. The information may be used in an ESD analysis stage to generate performance characteristics of the ESD protection circuitry. Results of the ESD analysis may then be used to design optimized ESD protection circuitry along with the rest of the circuit components of the I/O cells. In this way, the design of ESD protection circuitry may be optimized without having to redo a completed I/O cell design and significantly delay the design flow before tapeout.

An integrated circuit includes at least one transistor over a substrate, and a first guard ring disposed around the at least one transistor. The integrated circuit further includes a second guard ring disposed around the first guard ring. The integrated circuit further includes a first doped region disposed adjacent to the first guard ring, the first doped region having a first dopant type. The integrated circuit further includes a second doped region disposed adjacent to the second guard ring, the second doped region having a second dopant type.

Approaches for checking a design of an integrated circuit using an antenna rule are provided. A method includes determining a figure of merit for a transistor based on a resistance of a shunt path of the transistor relative to the size of the antenna and the size of the transistor. The method also includes comparing the determined figure of merit to a limit. The method further includes deeming the transistor to pass the antenna rule when the figure of merit is less than the limit, and deeming the transistor to fail the antenna rule when the figure of merit is greater than the limit. The determining and the comparing are performed by a computer device.

A silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) includes a first-type field, a second-type first field and a second-type second field disconnectedly formed in a first-type well; an entire first-type doped region formed within the first-type field; a segmented second-type doped region formed within the second-type first field; and a segmented first-type doped region formed within the second-type second field.