摘要 |
In a method of electrically altering the characteristics of a semiconductor device, a lateral polysilicon zener diode's zener knee voltage may be shifted either to a higher or lower voltage. An electrical potential may be applied in the forward direction to shift the zener knee to a higher voltage level. An electrical potential may be applied in the reverse bias direction to shift the zener knee to a lower voltage. In the limit, the zener may be changed into a forward diode of reverse polarity with respect to the original zener. The electrical potential used should be of appropriate magnitude to melt the polysilicon without damage to the zener's terminals. This induces migration of the impurities causing a rediffusion of impurities thereby altering the characteristics of the diode. This method may be used to program a PROM by either converting the zener to a diode or not to program each binary bit. The device may also be used as an analog memory element by setting an entire word equal to a predetermined zener knee voltage.
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