Patent ID: 8076716

Claim:
An electronic device comprising a transistor, wherein the transistor comprises: a semiconductor layer having a primary surface; a conductive structure comprising: a horizontally-oriented doped region lying adjacent to the primary surface; an underlying doped region spaced apart from the primary surface and the horizontally-oriented doped region; and a vertically-oriented conductive region extending through a majority of the thickness of the semiconductor layer and electrically connecting the horizontally-oriented doped horizontal region and the underlying doped region, wherein: from a cross-sectional view, the vertically-oriented conductive region has an outer perimeter including points that are on opposite sides of the outer perimeter, and a line between the points passes through a centerpoint of a volume defined by the outer perimeter of the vertically-oriented conductive region; and at substantially all points along the line, the vertically-oriented conductive region includes a semiconductor-containing material having a same conductivity type; a conductive electrode overlying and electrically insulated from the conductive structure; a gate electrode overlying the primary surface of the semiconductor layer; and a gate signal line overlying the primary surface of the semiconductor layer, wherein the gate signal line overlies the conductive electrode.