Monolithic high voltage gated diode crosspoint array IC

A new gated diode crosspoint integrated circuit has been developed for telephone switching system applications. Central to the design of this high voltage device has been the extensive use of numerical modeling techniques. Two-dimensional simulation of the individual dielectrically isolated components that comprise the switch array has led to an improvement in their electrical parameters together with size reduction for each of their geometries. Additional calculations dealing with the routing of interconnect metalization about the perimeter of components has indicated how such runners may encroach upon these elements without degrading their performance so that higher density circuitry could be assembled onto a chip. The resulting IC therefore realizes substantial advances over its predecessors, including: increased scale of integration (9 vs. 4 crosspoint pairs), more compact design (2.1 vs, 3.6mm²per crosspoint pair), higher OFF state minimum blocking voltage (600 vs. 530 volts), and reduced ON state incremental resistance (10 vs. 18 ohms).