Abstract:
A current ballasting circuit for an ESD protection device couples nonintersecting conductive strips between a common contact pad and the contact electrodes of the ESD protection device. The connecting strips form respective electrically isolated ballasting resistors between the external contact pad and the contact electrodes of the ESD device. In addition, lateral resistances are formed between the contact strips which enhance the operation of the multiple ballasting resistors. The conductive strips may be made from metal, polysilicon or by a vertically meandering series connection of polysilicon layers, metal layers and interconnecting vias. The lateral resistance between the parallel conductive paths may be enhanced by segmenting both the drain and source electrodes. In one example, the gate electrode of an MOS ESD device extends locally between each pair of strips to segment the drain and source regions. The lateral resistance between the conductive strips is further enhanced by defining an additional gate electrode, having a portion that is parallel to the gate electrode of the ESD device and further portions that extend between the conductive strips. Multiple ESD devices may be connected in parallel to provide additional paths for shunting ESD current.

Description:
This patent application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/174,326 filed Jan. 4, 2000, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates generally to current protection of electronic devices and specifically to current ballasting in fully silicided electrostatic discharge sensitive devices. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Integrated circuits including metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistors receive input signals and transfer output signals in the form of a voltage. These devices are typically made with very small device dimensions in order to maximize the amount of circuitry that can be implemented on the integrated circuit and to allow the circuitry to operate at high frequencies yet with minimal power demands. A problem with these devices, however, is their sensitivity to damage from electrical overstresses applied to the input terminals, output terminals or to internal circuit nodes of the integrated circuit. The gate oxides for these devices are typically very thin and can break down if an applied voltage exceeds even relatively low levels. Such breakdown may cause immediate or expedited destruction of transistors or other devices. Excess voltage is often caused by stress in the form of electrostatic discharge (ESD). As is well known, ESD events, although brief, may exhibit relatively large currents, on the order of amperes. In order to combat problems associated with ESD events, manufacturers of MOS devices design protection devices that provide paths through which to discharge nodes rapidly. Protection devices may be positioned between the input buffer or output buffer pads of a device and a source of reference potential (e.g., ground) to quickly conduct the ESD voltage away from the devices that may be harmed. Note that the terms ESD device, ESD protection device, and ESD sensitive device are used interchangeably throughout this document. 
     FIG. 1 is a top-plan view of one such ESD protection device. The exemplary device is implemented as an N-channel MOS transistor having source and drain regions and a gate electrode over a channel region that separates the source and drain regions. Although the device is implemented as an MOS transistor, it operates, in ESD protection mode as a parasitic bipolar transistor having a collector region corresponding to the drain region, an emitter region corresponding to the source region and a base region corresponding to the channel region. In a typical configuration, the gate electrode is tied to a source of reference potential (e.g. ground) either by a direct connection or through a resistive connection. As is well known, when the potential between the collector and the emitter (V ce ) of the bipolar transistor becomes greater than a predetermined voltage, known as the snap-back trigger voltage, the voltage V ce  snaps back to a lower value. The device clamps the voltage at this lower value, known as the snapback holding voltage. In this conduction mode, the transistor presents a very low impedance and, thus, conducts any current to ground. 
     The ESD protection device shown in FIG. 1, includes multiple channels through which the relatively high ESD currents may be conducted in order to reduce the voltage and current stress on the device. Each channel is defined by a metal connecting terminal  4 , in the drain region  2  of the transistor  3  and a corresponding metal connecting terminal  8  in the source region  6  of the transistor. Connecting terminals  4  are connected to solid metal connections  1 . Metal openings or slots  7  are sometimes required for various process reasons. Ideally, during an ESD condition, substantially equal “current paths” are established between each pair of connecting terminals creating multiple nonintersecting and nondiscriminating paths to discharge the ESD current. 
     Another trend in semiconductor processing is to apply silicide to the source and drain regions of MOS transistors in order to improve their performance. Silicided regions typically exhibit lower surface resistance than the doped silicon that forms the source and drain regions. 
     Applying silicide to the gate and source regions of an ESD protection device, however, may affect the performance of the device. Because the silicide may have a relatively rough edge next to the gate, this may lead to high local electrical fields and to degradation of the edges by high current densities (and corresponding increases in temperature). Because the silicide has a relatively low sheet resistance the entire device current can collapse into one small device region and cause immediate damage. 
     Attempts have been made to increase the gate-to-contact spacing in ESD protection devices, placing the silicide farther away from the heat-generating collector-base junction area in attempts to minimize the possibility of silicide failure. One such device is shown in FIG. 2, described below. These methods, however, increase the device geometry and require special processing steps for the ESD protection devices to selectively prevent silicide from being applied to portions of the source and drain electrodes of the device. 
     Attempts also have been made to provide ESD protection, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,763,919, by implementing a MOS transistor array structure having dispersed parallel discharge paths. These dispersed parallel discharge paths are formed in the n-well regions and in the N+ drain regions of the structure. The dispersed N+ drain regions are defined by local oxidation or shallow trench isolation (STI). The part of the N+ to substrate junction close to the local oxidation or STI interface may exhibit mechanical stress causing, among other things, electric field focal points, current leakage and susceptibility to breakdown. This structure also has non-linear discharge path resistance due to the N-well, and the performance of the structure is dependent upon the diffusion/well resistance. Another feature of this structure is that the dispersed parallel discharge paths are not isolated from the substrate, thus causing potential breakdown to the substrate (dispersed N+ drain regions) and adding undesirable additional parasitic capacitance (dispersed N+ regions and N-well regions). 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is embodied in apparatus for current ballasting an ESD protection device. Ballasting resistance is achieved by coupling nonintersecting conductive strips between a common contact pad and a respective plurality of spaced connecting terminals of the ESD protection device. The connecting strips form respective ballasting resistors between the contact pad and the connecting terminals of the ESD device. 
     According to one aspect of the invention, the conductive strips are formed from metal. 
     According to another aspect of the invention, the conductive strips are formed from polysilicon. 
     According to yet another aspect of the invention, the conductive strips are formed from a vertically meandering connection of vias and connecting layers. 
     According to yet another aspect of the invention, the lateral resistance between the connecting terminals is enhanced by segmenting the drain region of the ESD device locally between each pair of terminals. 
     According to another aspect of the invention, the lateral resistance between the connecting terminals is enhanced by defining a further gate electrode, having a portion that is parallel to the gate electrode of the ESD device and further portions that extend between the conductive strips. 
     According to another aspect of the invention, the ESD device is implemented as multiple component parallel-connected ESD devices, each component ESD device having a drain region, a gate region and a source region and including a plurality of nonintersecting conductive strips forming a respective plurality of ballasting resistors between a common electrically conductive terminal and a respective plurality of spaced connecting terminals in the respective drain region of each ESD device. 
     It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, but are not restrictive, of the invention. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
     The invention is best understood from the following detailed description when read in connection with the accompanying drawing. It is emphasized that, according to common practice, the various features of the drawing are not to scale. On the contrary, the dimensions of the various features are arbitrarily expanded or reduced for clarity. Included in the drawing are the following figures: 
     FIG. 1 (prior art) is a plan view of a fully silicided NMOS device; 
     FIG. 2 (prior art) is a plan view of a silicided NMOS device implementing local blocking of the silicide; 
     FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram, partly in plan diagram form, of an exemplary embodiment of the invention illustrating ballasting resistance and lateral resistance; 
     FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the invention illustrating application to a parasitic bipolar device; 
     FIG. 4B is an equivalent schematic diagram of an the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 4A illustrating the variable resistance of the parasitic bipolar device and indicating the voltage clamping capability of the voltage sources; 
     FIG. 5 is a plan view of an exemplary embodiment of the invention illustrating nonintersecting strips of metal; 
     FIG. 6 is a plan view of an exemplary embodiment of the invention illustrating nonintersecting strips of polysilicon; 
     FIG. 7A is a plan view of an exemplary embodiment of the invention illustrating vertically meandering nonintersecting strips; 
     FIG. 7B is a cross sectional view of a single vertically meandering strip. For illustrative purposes, one of the vertically meandering nonintersecting strips  60  is shown in FIG. 7B; 
     FIG. 8 is a plan view of an exemplary embodiment of the invention illustrating an array of individually ballasted protection device cells; 
     FIG. 9 is a plan view of an embodiment of the invention illustrating an array of ballasted protection device cells providing improved triggering utilizing segmented drain and source regions; and 
     FIG. 10 is a plan view of an embodiment of the invention illustrating an array of ballasted protection device cells providing improved triggering utilizing a segmented drain region and configured to reduce local high current densities. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Although the present invention is described in terms of an NMOS ESD protection device, which operates as a parasitic NPN transistor, it is contemplated that the invention may be used for other ESD devices (e.g., MOS or bipolar) such as PMOS protection devices that operate as parasitic PNP transistors, diodes (e.g., zener diodes, avalanche diodes), and silicon controlled rectifiers. In these alternative embodiments, a single ESD protection device has multiple parallel connections. 
     As set forth above, one method to reduce the magnitude of localized electric currents in a device is to add a ballasting resistor. FIG. 2 (prior art) is a plan view of a silicided NMOS device, which uses local blocking of the silicide to introduce current ballasting. The ESD protection device shown in FIG. 2, containing discrete connecting terminals  4  and  8  has silicide applied only in the contact regions  2  and  6 . The remainder of the drain region  12  and source region  14  are not silicided. Current ballasting occurs due to the aspect ratio of the width of the structure to the length of the regions in which silicide is not applied (e.g., regions  12  and  14 ). One disadvantage of the configuration depicted in FIG. 2 is that the additional processing steps required to form devices in which silicide is applied to only a portion of the drain and/or source electrodes of selected MOS devices are costly and, in some cases, are known to reduce the yield and/or performance of the integrated circuit process. 
     The present invention overcomes the deficiencies in the prior art by creating separate electrically isolated ballasted current paths between the external contact and the contact electrodes of the ESD device, or the current carrying device being protected. These isolated ballasted current paths distribute current more evenly than the prior art devices, reducing current crowding which, in turn, reduces the localized heating of the ESD device. An exemplary embodiment of the invention largely confines ESD current to nonintersecting resistive channels that exhibit lateral resistance between the channels. The combination of the resistive channels and the lateral resistance between channels ensures that current flow is spread evenly among the channels, confining ESD current flow and greatly reducing current crowding. 
     Because the ballasted current paths of the current invention are electrically isolated from the semiconductor substrate, several advantages are provided over the prior art. These advantages include protection performance independent of diffusion/well resistance and no added mechanical stress caused by the material interface between the local oxidation and the silicon. Disadvantages of added mechanical stress include increased likelihood of (1) localization of electric fields, (2) leakage current and (3) breakdown. Also, the isolated ballasted current paths of the present invention provide other advantages over the prior art including ballast resistance linearity, lower values of ballast resistance, no added junction capacitance, more compact layout and no extra process steps (as with silicide-blocked devices). 
     FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram, partly in plan diagram form, of an exemplary embodiment of the invention illustrating ballasting resistance and lateral resistance. In this embodiment, a metal contact  17  representing, for example, an external contact of the integrated circuit, is connected to the drain region  2  of the ESD protection device  3  through a plurality of nonintersecting resistive elements  18 . As described below, each of the elements  18  provides a respective ballasting resistance. Between the resistive elements  18  on the drain region  2  of the ESD device  3  are a plurality of resistive elements  20 . Each of these elements provide a lateral resistance that enhances the ballasting effect of the resistive elements  18 . The lateral resistors are a product of the configuration of the drain  2  of the ESD device  3  and the electrical isolation provided therein. Because the drain region is relatively narrow, significant resistance exists between adjacent connecting terminals. This resistance is additive along the device such that the resistance between the right-most contact electrode and the left-most contact point is the sum of the intervening resistances. The source region  6  of the ESD device  3  also includes ballasting resistors  18  and lateral resistors  20 . 
     Although the exemplary embodiment of the invention couples the ESD device to an external connector  17 , it is contemplated that the ESD device may be coupled to protect other nodes in the circuit from over voltage conditions. For example, the ESD device may be coupled between the positive and negative operational power connections of the circuit. While FIG. 3 shows the ballasting resistors being coupled to both the source and drain regions of the ESD device, it is contemplated that they may be connected to either the source region only, or drain region only. 
     The even distribution of current among the nonintersecting resistive channels occurs because, if any one channel draws more current than the other channels, the voltage drop across the resistive channel  18  increases resulting in a higher voltage at the external contact  17 . This higher voltage, in turn, induces greater current flow through the other nonintersecting channels, causing the higher current on the one channel to be redistributed among the other channels. This analysis assumes that the channels remain distinct through the device. The lateral resistance  20  ensures that the current flow is reduced between the connecting terminals on the ESD protection device because, during an ESD event, the conduction path through the ESD protection device has a lower resistance than the conduction path from one connecting terminal to the next. Ideally, the value of lateral resistance  20  should be as large as possible. The value of the lateral resistance may be increased by increasing the spacing between each of the contacts  4  and each of the contacts  8 , realizing however, that the width efficiency of the device may decrease when the spacing is increased above some value. The inventors have determined that any value of resistance approximately greater than the “on” resistance of the ESD protection device is acceptable. Thus, the combination of the ballasting resistors  18  and the lateral resistors  20  act to evenly distribute ESD current among the multiple nonintersecting paths through the ESD device  3 . 
     FIG. 4A is schematic diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the invention illustrating the parasitic bipolar transistors that are formed by the “current paths” flowing between respective pairs of the connecting terminals  4  and  8  on the drain and source of the ESD device. As shown in FIG. 4A, the structure of the exemplary ESD device forms a plurality of open-base NPN transistors having collector electrodes connected to the drain connecting terminals  4  of the ESD device and emitter electrodes connected to the source connecting terminals  8  of the ESD device. Each of the plurality of parasitic NPN transistors enters a snap-back mode to conduct ESD current and currents resulting from other over voltage conditions when the voltage across the transistor exceeds the snap-back threshold potential. Although the parasitic NPN transistors are shown as open base devices, because the base electrodes are implemented in the semiconductor substrate, the devices are not necessarily open base. The substrate potential applied to the base electrodes, however, is relatively small and does not significantly affect the performance of the parasitic NPN transistor as an ESD protection device. 
     FIG. 4B is an equivalent schematic diagram of the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 4A illustrating the variable resistance exhibited by the NPN transistors. In FIG. 4B, the NPN transistors shown in FIG. 4A are modeled as variable resistors  21  each with an offset voltage source  125  determined by the snapback holding voltage. The value of resistance for each variable resistor  21  is a function of the ESD current flowing through the respective conductive path. Ideally, as stated previously, the lateral resistance  20  should be as large as possible to ensure even distribution of the ESD current among the conduction paths. This condition is met by making lateral resistance  20  and the ballast resistance  18  large compared to the variable resistance  21 . 
     FIG. 5 is a top plan view of a first exemplary embodiment of the invention which uses nonintersecting strips of metal  24  and  34  to form the ballast resistors. In FIG. 5, strips of metal  24  on the drain side of the device are coupled between a common terminal  17  and discrete connecting terminals  4  within a silicided drain region  2  of the ESD device  3 . Strips of metal  34  on the source side of the device are coupled to respective discrete connecting terminals  8  within the silicided source region  6  to connect the source region  6  to a common terminal  19  which may, for example, be connected to a source of reference potential (e.g. ground). Strips of metal  24  are configured to be nonintersecting and are separated by spacings  36 . Strips of metal  34  are also configured to be nonintersecting and are separated by spacings  38 . Each strip of metal provides a path for ESD current flow and provides ballasting resistance. Lateral resistance is exhibited between adjacent metal strips by the coupling of each metal strip to discrete connecting points. In exemplary embodiments of the invention, the length and width of each metal strip, the spacing between strips, and the height of the drain region  2  are chosen to provide the desired amount of ballasting resistance. In another embodiment of the invention, current ballasting is provided only on one side of the device (i.e., either the drain side or the source side). The oxide coating aids in providing isolation between the metal strips  24  and  34  and the semiconductor substrate. The formation of the strips  24  and  34  does not require any special processing steps but may be done as a part of the normal metallization procedures. 
     FIG. 6 is a top plan view of a second exemplary embodiment of the invention illustrating the use of nonintersecting strips of polysilicon to form the ballasting resistors. In this embodiment, the polysilicon strips  42  are connected to the common terminal  17  via connectors  41  and are connected to short metal strips  50  via connectors  43 . The short metal strips  50 , in turn, are connected to the drain region  2  of the ESD device  3  by the connecting terminals  4 . In the exemplary embodiment of the invention, the metal regions  50  are used to connect the polysilicon strips to the ESD device because the current state of the art processing rules do not permit connecting polysilicon directly to the silicided diffusion  2 . Strips  42  are configured to be nonintersecting and are separated by spacings  46 . In this exemplary embodiment of the invention, metal strips  34 , on the source side of the ESD device  3 , are coupled to silicided source region  6  at discrete connecting terminals  8 . In the exemplary embodiment, these strips connect the source region  6  to ground via the common terminal  19 . 
     As in the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the strips  34  are configured to be nonintersecting and are separated by spacings  38 . An advantage of using polysilicon strips  42  over metal strips  24 , shown in FIG. 5, is that the sheet resistance of the polysilicon strip is approximately an order of magnitude greater than the sheet resistance of metal. Because of this higher resistance, the use of silicided polysilicon strips allows for a more compact structure than when metal strips are used. The structure shown in FIG. 6 may be formed without any additional process steps. The polysilicon strips  42  may be deposited when other polysilicon layers are processed, thus an underlying oxide layer provides isolation between strips  34  and  42 . The metal strips  50  and  34  may be part of the normal metallization process and the connectors  41 ,  43 , and the connecting terminals  4  and  8  may be, for example, tungsten vias that are also a part of the normal semiconductor process. 
     FIG. 7A is a top plan view of a third exemplary embodiment of the invention illustrating vertically meandering nonintersecting strips. In this embodiment, each strip  60  and  64 , is formed by joining, for example, polysilicon and metal strips formed at different levels in the integrated circuit process with contact vias that are also a part of the process. The ballasting resistors  60  and  64  are formed by the series connection of polysilicon, vias, and metal. Ballasting resistors  60  and  64  are isolated by the same mechanism that isolates the components of each ballasting resistor. Vertically meandering nonintersecting strips  60 , on the drain side of the device, are coupled to the silicided drain region  2  by the connecting terminals  4 . The vertically meandering nonintersecting strips  60  are separated by spacings  72 . Vertically meandering nonintersecting strips  64 , on the source side of the device, are coupled to silicided source region  6  at the connecting terminals  8 . The strips  64  are configured to be nonintersecting and are separated by spacings  76 . 
     FIG. 7B is a cross sectional view of a single vertically meandering strip  60  according to the third embodiment of the invention. This meandering strip connects the common terminal  17  to the drain region  2  of the ESD device  3 . Starting at the external connector  17 , the strip  60  comprises a connector  41  down to a segment of polysilicon  78 , up to another connector  41 , to a metal layer  50 , to a via  81 , to a segment of a second metal layer  83 , to a second via  84  and to a segment of a third metal layer  82 . The segment of the third metal layer  82  is connected to another segment of the polysilicon layer  78  through a series connection of a via, a segment of the second metal layer, another via, a segment of the first metal layer and a connector. This second segment of polysilicon is connected to a second segment of the third metal layer  82  through a connector, a segment of the first metal layer, a via, a segment of the second metal layer and another via. Finally, in this exemplary embodiment, the second segment of the third metal layer  82  is connected to the drain region  2  of the ESD device  3  through a series connection of a via  84 , a segment of the second metal layer  83 , another via  81 , a segment of the first metal layer  50  and a connecting terminal  4 . In the exemplary embodiment of the invention, the first, second and third metal layers may be aluminum or copper films and the vias and connecting terminals may be tungsten plugs. These series connections form the ballasting resistor  60 . In this embodiment, each of the vias adds a significant resistance (e.g. 5 to 10 ohms in advanced deep sub-micron technologies) to the ballasting resistor  60 . Each of the other layers also adds resistance, typically the resistance of the metal layers is negligible compared to the combined resistance of the polysilicon layers  78 , the connectors  41 , and the vias  81  and  84 . An advantage of the exemplary embodiment of the invention depicted in FIGS. 7A and 7B is the compactness of the configuration. 
     The number of layers and the number of meanders is exemplary only. It is contemplated that a satisfactory ballasting resistor may be fabricated using more or fewer layers and/or more or fewer meanders. 
     FIG. 8 is a top plan view of a fourth exemplary embodiment of the invention illustrating an array of individually ballasted protection device cells. Each elementary protection device cell  96  is coupled to a first terminal  90  and a second terminal  94  by respective non-intersecting strips  100 . The nonintersecting strips  100  provide ballasting resistance. Nonintersecting strips  100  may comprise any of the embodiments previously described or described below, using metal, polysilicon, vertical meandering strips, or any combination thereof to form the ballast resistors  100 . Advantages of the exemplary embodiment depicted in FIG. 8 are that it may be implemented in a relatively small area and that it evenly distributes the ESD current over a large number of ESD devices and, thus, can handle relatively large ESD events. 
     FIG. 9 is a plan view of a fifth embodiment of the invention, an ESD protection device providing additional lateral isolation and improved triggering by utilizing a segmented drain and source regions. In FIG. 9, there are a plurality of nonintersecting strips  102  positioned in the drain region but not in the source region. The device shown in FIG. 9 includes active areas  106  separated by polysilicon conductive elements  104 , and underlying dielectric and well or substrate material. Conductive elements  104  are not required to be connected to the gate electrode, thus, in alternate embodiments of the inventions, conductive elements are or are not connected to the gate electrode. Nonintersecting strips  102  provide ballast resistance. Nonintersecting strips  102  may comprise any of the embodiments previously described, including metal, silicided polysilicon, vertical meandering strips, or any combination thereof. The device shown in FIG. 9 utilizes area efficiently by compactly forming separate protection device cells in the ESD device. Polysilicon elements  104  impede lateral current in the source and drain regions thus providing isolation between nonintersecting strips  102 . Close proximity of the protection device cells provides improved triggering of the ESD device. In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 9 utilizing MOS technology, triggering is enhanced by the increased drain-junction perimeter (i.e. by increasing the dV/dt (transient) triggering of the parasitic npn transistors). Further triggering improvement is obtained in the embodiment shown in FIG. 9, as the increased drain-gate overlap capacitance allows the gate electrode to be coupled to ground through a high ohmic resistance. It is contemplated that the segmented drain regions may be further separated by extensions of the channel region beneath the extended gate regions. 
     FIG. 10 is a plan view of an sixth embodiment of the invention illustrating an ESD device configured to further reduce local high electric field densities. The array depicted in FIG. 10 comprises active areas  124  separated by polysilicon conductive elements  116 . Nonintersecting strips  114  provide ballast resistance. Nonintersecting strips  114  may comprise any of the embodiments previously described, including metal, polysilicon, vertical meandering strips, or any combination thereof. Polysilicon elements  116  impede lateral current flow thus providing isolation between nonintersecting strips  114 . The corners formed at the intersection of the vertical and horizontal segments of polysilicon elements  112 , however, may cause relatively high local electric field densities. The split gate configuration shown in FIG. 10 reduces local electric field densities. In this alternate configuration, a main polysilicon strip (gate)  120  is formed to be of nominal transistor gate length. Polysilicon elements  116  are coupled by narrow polysilicon strip  118  which is desirably formed entirely within the drain region and having a gate length that is desirably less than the minimum design rules for the integrated circuit process. The space  122 , between polysilicon strips  118  and  120  is also formed to be as narrow as possible. The active area  124 , the polysilicon strip  118 , and the active area (N+) region located in the space  122 , from a further MOS/bipolar transistor. This transistor, which is in series with the MOS transistor of the ESD device, is intentionally formed to be leaky because of its short gate length. Thus, this further transistor acts as a resistor that diverts the ESD current from the drain contacts to the edge of the gate in the main transistor. The lateral current flow is still impeded by polysilicon elements  116  as described above, to prevent current crowding in the device. 
     While the present invention has been described in terms of multiple exemplary embodiments, it is contemplated that may be practiced as described above, within the scope of the appended claims.