Patent ID: 7943928

Claim:
An ESD protection structure comprising: a first conducting zone of a first conductivity type disposed in a channel having sidewalls connected by a bottom surface, said channel located within a semiconductor body, wherein the first conducting zone is electrically coupled and physically contacts at a first location to a doped region of the first conductivity type; and a second conducting zone of a second conductivity type disposed in the semiconductor body, the second conducting zone electrically coupled at a second location to a doped region of the second conductivity type, wherein the channel is at least partially disposed in said second conducting zone, and wherein the second conducting zone physically contacts the first conducting zone at the bottom surface and sidewalls of the channel, wherein the first conducting zone comprises conductively doped polysilicon, wherein any portion of the channel that is not filled by the conductively doped polysilicon is filled with a dielectric, and wherein a semiconductor diode is formed only between the first and the second conducting zones.