Nanotech's Shubhra Gangopadhyay

Shubhra Gangopadhyay, the LaPierre Chair professor of electrical and computer engineering at U Missouri - Columbia has several patents including

6,965,156, cited by no US patents to date

first claim:

A metal-to-metal antifuse comprising:

a lower metal electrode;

a lower adhesion promoting layer disposed over said lower metal electrode, said lower adhesion promoting layer being without substantial affect on electrical characteristics of the antifuse;

an amorphous carbon antifuse material layer disposed over said lower adhesion promoting layer;

an upper adhesion promoting layer disposed over said antifuse material layer, said upper adhesion promoting layer being without substantial affect on electrical characteristics of the antifuse; and

an upper metal electrode disposed over said upper adhesion promoting layer,

wherein said lower adhesion promoting layer and said upper adhesion promoting layer are selected from a group of materials comprising SixCy, having a ratio of x to y of about 1+/-0.4, and SixNy.

6,316,346 (cited by only one patent, the above-noted 6,965,156)

first claim
A method of fabricating an antifuse structure in an integrated circuit, comprising the steps of:

forming a first layer of conductive interconnects in said integrated circuit;

forming an antifuse layer primarily amorphous carbon over said first layer of conductive interconnects;

forming a second layer of conductive interconnects over said antifuse layer;

wherein said antifuse layer can be programmed at a voltage of less than about 8 volts.