Patent ID: 7242072

Claim:
An electrically programmable fuse comprising: a semiconductor substrate; an insulating layer on said semiconductor substrate; a fuse body comprising a crystalline semiconductor body disposed on said insulating layer, so that said crystalline semiconductor body is electrically and thermally isolated from said semiconductor substrate, wherein sidewalls of said crystalline semiconductor body are substantially surrounded by a fill-in dielectric, wherein said fill-in dielectric does not substantially impose additional stress on said crystalline semiconductor body, and wherein a top surface of said fuse body and a top surface of said fill-in dielectric are substantially co-planar with each other; a nitride capping layer disposed directly on said top surface of said fuse body and said top surface of said fill-in dielectric; and said fuse body comprising a fuse link region electrically connected to a first contact region at a first end of said fuse link region and a second contact region at the opposing end of said fuse link region.