Patent ID: 6995464

Claim:
A pressure-contact type semiconductor device having an outer peripheral gate structure which includes an external cathode electrode, an external anode electrode and an external gate terminal for flowing an electric current at a time of turn on/off operation, said semiconductor device comprising: a semiconductor substrate having an outer peripheral step portion thinned in thickness thereof, said semiconductor substrate having a gate electrode and a cathode electrode formed on a top surface side of the substrate, and an anode electrode formed on a back surface of the substrate; and a pressure-contact supporting block which is provided in an inner periphery of the external gate terminal and located on the gate electrode, wherein the gate electrode is formed on the top surface of the outer peripheral step portion of the semiconductor substrate so as to face the pressure-contact supporting block, wherein a convex contacting portion is formed at a predetermined position of a top surface of the gate electrode so as to contact the pressure-contact supporting block, and wherein an insulation film is formed on a surface area of the gate electrode, ranging from an inner periphery of the gate electrode to a position adjacent to the convex contacting portion.