CPC Definition - Subclass H10D
This place covers:
Electric semiconductor devices having inorganic semiconductor bodies.
This includes the following kinds of devices:
- individual inorganic semiconductor devices specially adapted for rectifying, amplifying, oscillating or switching, e.g. transistors or diodes;
- individual inorganic resistors or capacitors having potential barriers;
- individual resistors, capacitors or inductors having no potential barriers, and specially adapted for integration with other semiconductor components;
- integrated devices comprising at least one component covered by this subclass, e.g. CMOS integrated devices.
This place also covers:
- semiconductor bodies, or regions thereof, of devices covered by this subclass;
- electrodes of devices covered by this subclass;
- assemblies of devices comprising at least one device covered by this subclass;
- processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment of the devices covered by this subclass.
In this subclass, the periodic system used is the I to VIII Group system indicated in the Periodic Table under Note (3) of section C.
This place does not cover:
Constructional details other than semiconductor bodies or electrodes thereof | |
Electronic memory devices | |
Semiconductor devices sensitive to infrared radiation, light, electromagnetic radiation of shorter wavelength or corpuscular radiation | |
Light-emitting semiconductor devices having potential barriers | |
Thermoelectric, thermomagnetic, piezoelectric, electrostrictive, magnetostrictive, magnetic-effect, superconducting, Ovshinsky-effect, bulk negative resistance effect devices |
Examples of places where the subject matter of this place is covered when specially adapted, used for a particular purpose, or incorporated in a larger system:
Use of semiconductor devices for measuring |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
In this place, the following terms or expressions are used with the meaning indicated:
chip | a piece of a wafer or a substrate that has been processed to contain devices therein or thereon.The expression "diced chip" refers to the result of dicing a wafer or a substrate into a plurality of chips, whereas "undiced chip" refers to a chip before dicing or with no dicing. |
device | an electric circuit element (e.g. diode, transistor, LED, etc.); (depending on the context) can also refer to an integrated device (e.g. CMOS-IC, DRAM device, etc.). A device may be in the form of a bare or packaged chip. |
dopant | the atoms or compounds added to a material during doping |
doping | the intentional addition of a small quantity of atoms or compounds into a material to achieve a desired characteristic, e.g. to produce an n-type or p-type material |
individual | refers to: an electric circuit element not being an integrated device; or a component of an integrated device. Examples of individual devices include: diodes, transistors, photovoltaic cells, Josephson-junction devices, light-emitting diodes [LED], organic LEDs or a single LED component within an integrated device. |
integrated device | a device consisting of a plurality of semiconductor or other solid-state electric circuit elements formed in or on a common substrate |
integrated circuit | an integrated device where all the electric circuit elements (e.g. diodes, transistors, LEDs, etc.) are formed in or on a common substrate, including interconnections between the elements |
component | an electric circuit element (e.g. diode, transistor, LED, etc.) that is one of a plurality of elements formed in or on a common substrate, e.g. in an integrated device |
wafer | it can be one of the following: (a) a slice of semiconductor or electric solid-state active material. For example: a slice of silicon; a slice of a semiconducting compound, e.g. gallium nitride [GaN]; a slice of lithium tantalate [LiTaO3] for superconductor applications. (b) A multilayered laminate, having at least one layer of semiconductor or electric solid-state active material, the layer being meant to be processed into devices. For example: silicon-on-insulator [SOI]; silicon-on-glass [SOG]; silicon-on-sapphire [SOS]; a composite wafer comprising silicon carbide [SiC] on polycrystalline silicon [Si] support; a layer of semiconducting nanowires on glass. A wafer is typically processed by (e.g.) deposition, etching, doping or diffusion, and is then typically diced into chips. |
body | the region of semiconductor (resp. solid-state) material(s) within which, or at the surface of which, the physical effects that are characteristic of the device occur, and any bordering semiconductor (resp. solid-state) material(s) that are contiguous with this region. Examples: in a field-effect transistor [FET], the physical effects occur in the channel region between the source and the drain. The semiconductor body includes the channel region, the source and drain regions, and any contiguous semiconductor material; in a light-emitting diode [LED], the physical effects occur at a junction of active semiconductor layers. The semiconductor body includes these active semiconductor layers and any contiguous semiconductor layers, such as buffer layers, possibly a growth substrate, etc., that are between the cathode and anode electrodes; in a thermoelectric device, the solid-state body includes all solid-state materials in the path of current between the electrodes. |
electrode | a conductive region in or on the semiconductor body or solid-state body of a device (and other than the body itself) which exerts an electrical influence on the body, irrespective of whether or not an external electrical connection is made thereto. The term covers metallic regions which exert electrical influence on the body through an insulating region (e.g. in intentional non-parasitic capacitive coupling), or inductive coupling arrangements. In a capacitive coupling arrangement, the dielectric region is regarded as part of the electrode. The overall conductive wiring may comprise multiple portions. In such a case, only the wiring portions that exert an electrical influence on the body are considered portions of the electrode. Examples: conductive layer(s) in direct physical contact with the body; conductive region(s) exerting an inductive coupling onto the body; a multilayer structure which exerts influence on the body through an insulating region, e.g. in intentional non-parasitic capacitive coupling. |
interconnection | a conductive arrangement for conducting electric current from an electrode of a circuit element to another part of the circuit. Examples include metal wirings. |
container | a solid construction in which (one or more) devices are placed, or which is formed around the devices, for forming packaged devices. A container requires a partial or total enclosure and it may also comprise a filling. |
encapsulation | an enclosure consisting of (one or more) layers, e.g. comprising organic polymers, which at least partially enclose the (one or more) devices, thereby protecting them. An encapsulation is often used to hermetically seal devices. |
field-effect | refers to semiconductor technology wherein a voltage applied to a gate electrode creates an electric field that allows for control of current near the interface of the gate and the body, e.g. to create an inversion channel between the source and drain of a MOSFET |
package | the collection of all elements, which are external to the chip, that protect the chip or connect it to another object. Package therefore covers encapsulations, containers, package substrates, interposers, heatsinks or the like. Package does not include objects at a higher system level, like circuit boards and beyond, e.g. a housing in which the circuit board is enclosed. |
unipolar | refers to semiconductor technology that primarily involves one type only of charge carrier, i.e. it involves either holes or electrons but not both |
bipolar | refers to semiconductor technology that involves multi-carrier-type operation, i.e. which simultaneously uses both electrons and holes as charge carriers |
MIS | metal-insulator-semiconductor |
MOS | metal-oxide-semiconductor |
FET | field-effect transistor |
MISFET | metal-insulator-semiconductor field-effect transistor |
TFT | thin-film transistor |
thyristor | device having a control electrode and having regenerative action within four or more alternating P-type and N-type regions |
Group IV material | material comprising only Group IV elements, except for dopants or other impurities |
Group III-V material | material comprising only Group III and Group V elements, except for dopants or other impurities |
Group II-VI material | material comprising only Group II and Group VI elements, except for dopants or other impurities |
Group I-VI material | material comprising only comprising Group I or Group VI elements, except for dopants or other impurities |
Group I-VII material | material comprising only comprising Group I or Group VII elements, except for dopants or other impurities |
In patent documents, the following abbreviations are often used:
CMIS | complementary MIS |
CMOS | complementary MOS |
DMOS | double-diffused MOS |
LDMOS | lateral DMOS |
VDMOS | vertical DMOS |
MNOS | metal-nitride-oxide-semiconductor |
IMPATT | impact ionization avalanche transit-time |
TRAPATT | trapped plasma avalanche triggered transit |
BJT | bipolar junction transistor |
HEMT | high-electron-mobility transistor |
IGFET | insulated-gate FET |
IGBT | insulated-gate bipolar transistor |
CCD | charge-coupled device |
CAD | computer-aided design |
LSI | large-scale integration |
This place covers:
Individual inorganic resistors or capacitors having potential barriers.
Individual resistors, capacitors or inductors having no potential barriers, and specially adapted for integration with other semiconductor components.
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Resistors in general | |
Inductors in general | |
Capacitors in general | |
Organic resistors or capacitors having potential barriers |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
PNPN diodes, e.g. Shockley diodes, break-over diodes or thyristor diodes |
This place does not cover:
Insulated-gate bipolar transistors |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Organic transistors |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Charge-coupled device [CCD] image sensors |
This place covers:
Manufacture or treatment of individual devices having bodies comprising selenium or tellurium in uncombined form other than as impurities in semiconductor bodies of other materials.
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Semiconductor bodies, or regions thereof, of devices having potential barriers and characterised by the materials being selenium or tellurium only |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Organic materials used in the body or electrodes of organic electric solid-state devices |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Structures with periodic or quasi periodic potential variation for the control of the intensity, phase, polarisation or colour | |
Semiconductor lasers having quantum well or superlattice structures | |
Individual inorganic light-emitting semiconductor devices having quantum effect structures or superlattices |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Three-dimensional integrated devices |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Three-dimensional integrated devices |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Active matrix addressed cells based on liquid crystals | |
Arrangements or circuits for control of indicating devices using static means to present variable information | |
Active-matrix LED displays | |
Active-matrix OLED [AMOLED] displays |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Three-dimensional integrated devices |
This place covers:
Integrated device layouts, e.g. top-view representations of integrated circuits using planar geometrical shapes.
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Computer-aided design [CAD] | |
Computer-aided circuit design at the physical level |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Structural electrical arrangements for electrical protection |