The three-terminal fuse: a new switching device

Author

Cohen, Simon S.

Author_Institution

Lincoln Lab., MIT, Lexington, MA, USA

Volume

42

Issue

7

fYear

1995

fDate

7/1/1995 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1352

Lastpage

1355

Abstract

A new switching device has been conceived and reduced to practice. This device is a once-programmable three-terminal fuse (TTF) with an on-resistance of a good metallic conductor typically employed in integrated circuits, and an off-resistance which is essentially infinite, as between two such disconnected conductors. In the new structure the fusible circuit path is fully isolated from the control electrode both before and after programming. The ideal switching characteristics of this device make it useful in a variety of analog and digital applications, particularly where field programmability, precision trimming, or redundancy/repair are required. We discuss the basic concept of the TTF and briefly highlight some of its possible applications

Keywords

MIM devices; electric fuses; interrupters; MIM structures; control electrode; field programmability; fusible circuit path; ideal switching characteristics; off-resistance; on-resistance; precision trimming; redundancy; repair; switching device; three-terminal fuse; Circuits; Conductors; Dielectrics; Electric resistance; Electrodes; Fuses; Laser beam cutting; Laser beams; Laser theory; Switches;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/16.391220

Filename

391220