The present invention relates, in general, to electronics, and more particularly, to methods of forming semiconductor devices and structure.
In the past, the semiconductor industry utilized various methods and structures to form semiconductor devices that had programmable functionality. In some cases, it was desirable to be able to program the functionality after the semiconductor device was assembled into a semiconductor package. The prior methods of programming functionality into a packaged semiconductor device generally required dedicating one or more pins or terminals of the package and the corresponding inputs of the semiconductor device to be used for the programming. Using package pins and semiconductor device inputs required that the semiconductor device and the package have additional inputs thereby increasing the cost of the programmable semiconductor device.
Additionally, once the functionality was programmed into the semiconductor device, it was possible that a malfunction could cause the programming information to be changed. As a result, the semiconductor device could operate with undesired functionality.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a programmable semiconductor device that minimizes the number of pins utilized for programming the device, that minimizes the impact of changes in the programmed information, and that has a low cost.
For simplicity and clarity of the illustration, elements in the figures are not necessarily to scale, and the same reference numbers in different figures denote the same elements. Additionally, descriptions and details of well-known steps and elements are omitted for simplicity of the description. As used herein current carrying electrode means an element of a device that carries current through the device such as a source or a drain of an MOS transistor or an emitter or a collector of a bipolar transistor or a cathode or anode of a diode, and a control electrode means an element of the device that controls current through the device such as a gate of an MOS transistor or a base of a bipolar transistor. Although the devices are explained herein as certain N-channel or P-Channel devices, a person of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that complementary devices are also possible in accordance with the present invention. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the words during, while, and when as used herein are not exact terms that mean an action takes place instantly upon an initiating action but that there may be some small but reasonable delay, such as a propagation delay, between the reaction that is initiated by the initial action.